


The Magic Which Kuroko Uses

by fivehorizons



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Hogwarts AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3940855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivehorizons/pseuds/fivehorizons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts AU. Kagami Taiga has just moved from Seirin Wizarding School in America to Hogwarts. With this transition, believes his dream of being the best wizard in the world is over since no one strong is said to attend Hogwarts. That is until he meets the Generation of Miracles. It's up to Kagami and a small, seemingly useless boy named Kuroko to take the five monsters down and bring balance to a school shrouded in mystery and secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote and updated this on FF but I'm bringing it over here too. I'm too lazy to go with my new trend of writing and re-write this one, so sorry if it isn't too great. Also sorry for any flaws in HP world, it's been a while since I've read the books :,(. Enjoy!

Kagami Taiga walked down King’s Cross Station, trying to figure out where the hell Platform 9¾ was. He had been pacing back and forth between Platform 9 and 10 for almost half an hour, but there were no neon signs that indicated that the train leading to Kagami’s new wizarding school was somewhere in the Muggle-filled facility.

Kagami sighed as he thought back to all of his friends back at Seirin, the most talented wizarding school in America. His best friend, Himuro Tatsuya, had promised that he’d call Kagami as often as he could now that the two boys were separated by the Atlantic Ocean, and seventh-year Alexandra Garcia said she’d be keeping close tabs on Kagami to make sure he would keep up with his studies. Kagami might’ve been the most powerful wizard at Seirin, even as a mere fourth-year, but his grades weren’t as nearly as brag-worthy. It was only through Tatsuya’s intensive cram sessions that Kagami had scraped through Potions.

“The least these idiot British wizards could do is put up a sign,” Kagami muttered under his breath as he turned his cart around for the seventh time. “I knew England would suck compared to America, but man, at least we have the decency to use private planes to get to Seirin, not some old train.”

Kagami rolled his cart, full of the list of items he had been instructed to bring with him for his fifth year at wizarding school but first at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and continued to survey the crowd in hopes of locating a fellow wizard on the way to Platform 9¾. He only had five minutes left until the train was due to leave, though he wouldn’t mind it if he was unable to go to the wretched wizarding school. He’d rather be back at Seirin, with Tatsuya and Alex.

As if his fate at Hogwarts wasn’t bad enough already, Kagami had heard stories on how much weaker the wizards were in England, which pissed him off. He wanted to be the best wizard the world had ever seen! How could he improve his already magnificent magical skills when there was no one to challenge. Tatsuya had always kept the red-head on his toes.

There was a long list of reasons why Kagami desired to be back home in America, and he would’ve gone through all of it if it hadn’t been for a voice coming from his side.

“Excuse me, are you lost?” a calm voice asked.

Kagami shot up six inches into the air, and his cart started rolling away from him. A pale hand quickly whipped out and brought the cart back to Kagami.

Looking to his left, Kagami took in a short, teal-blue haired boy. His wide eyes kept a steady glance with Kagami, who could still feel his skin crawling from the boy’s sudden appearance.

“Where did you come from?” Kagami shouted.

The boy’s expression didn’t change with Kagami’s rising tone. Instead, he replied in a soothing voice. “I can show you where Platform 9¾ is.”

Kagami looked the boy up and down and gaped at him. “You’re a wizard?”

“Please, don’t say that when so many Muggles are around.” Kuroko lowered his voice and added, “But yes. I am a wizard. Soon to be a fifth year at Hogwarts, Kuroko Tetsuya.”

Kagami knew the boy, Kuroko, would’ve been eaten alive back at Seirin. He was far too small and meek. There was no way this pipsqueak could help Kagami become the best wizard ever, but he _was_ in need of serious help in locating Platform 9¾.

“Lead the way,” Kagami said.

Kuroko turned his own cart towards an abandoned ticket box in between Platform 9 and 10. It was closer to 10, but Kagami still couldn’t find a sign that read to all Hogwarts students: HEY! YOU A WIZARD? WELL, HERE’S PLATFORM 9¾.

Kuroko began to make his way to the ticket box, and Kagami had nothing better to do than follow the pale boy. He had only taken three steps when he lost sight of Kuroko. He started to panic as his last hope in making it to the hidden destination vanished from sight, and he attempted to peer through the thick crowd for a tuft of chalk blue hair.

“Over here.”

Kagami looked over several heads and found Kuroko standing in front of the ticket box. Though a weakling, the kid was quick. Unfortunately, speed had nothing to do with being a talented wizard. Even though magical skill and speed did correlate, Kagami had no doubt that he could still kick the smaller boy’s ass.

Kagami stealthily made his way through the crowd and paused next to Kuroko.

“So?” Kagami asked. “Where’s the platform?”

Kuroko pointed to the metal box. “Run into there and you will arrive.”

“Are you crazy?” Kagami yelled. “Or are you just trying to make the American kid look like an idiot?”

Kuroko was unnerved by Kagami’s comment. “Would you rather it if I go first?”

Kagami rolled his eyes as he realized Kuroko wouldn’t let the joke die. He decided to go along with it and nodded his head. “Yeah, sure, run into the ticket box for all I care.”

Kuroko readjusted his gripping on the handles of his cart and jogged towards the metal box. Kagami awaited the clang of metal clashing and seeing all of the boy’s stuff go flying, but as the edge of Kuroko’s cart came in contact with the metal box, it didn’t collide. It just kept going on and on into the box until Kuroko vanished from sight.

“Wait!” Kagami called, but the boy had disappeared. “Dammit.”

Kagami looked up at the nearby clock and saw that there were three more minutes until his new life would depart. He knew that even if he did miss the train, someone would find him and send him to Hogwarts. There was no way he could avoid his future, and he knew that if he just let it come, it might be easier. And hey, maybe one of the losers in Hogwarts had enough strength to challenge Kagami.

“Let’s go,” Kagami said as he charged for the metal box.

Kagami felt his heart hammer as his cart neared the ticket box, but it lessened as his surrounding spontaneously transformed from the station packed with Muggles to a bustling platform full of adults sending their children off on the gigantic train ahead.

“Whoa,” Kagami said.

“I’m glad to see you made it,” Kuroko said.

Kagami turned to his side and grabbed the boy by the neckline of his black shirt. “Quit doing that!”

“Doing what?” Kuroko asked.

“Disappearing and then reappearing without even raising your wand,” Kagami said. With an exasperated sigh, he set the pipsqueak down and looked to the train filled of bubbly children from ages eleven to seventeen. “So, what now?”

Kuroko fixed his shirt so it was in proper place. “We get on the train in compartments with our stuff and leave for Hogwarts.”

“Is it assigned seating?” Kagami asked. On the plane rides to Seirin, Kagami was allowed to sit with whoever he wanted to. It had always been him and Tatsuya next to each other, and the three hour long flight never failed to be enjoyable.

Kuroko shook his head. “No. You can choose to sit wherever. The first years usually go to the south side of the train, so you can join them and make friends.”

Kagami was ready to strangle the boy to death for his comment. “I’m a fifth year, not a freakin’ first year!”

Kuroko’s eyes widened the slightest bit. “Ah, well, I have never seen you before. If you are a fifth year, I would have to know you. Especially with your weird eyebrows and American accent, it’d be hard to forget someone like you.”

Kagami clenched his fists. “I just moved here from America. It’s my first year at Hogwarts but I am a fifth year. And my eyebrows aren’t weird!”

Kuroko took in this new information as the last call for students to get on the train rang through the platform.

“Oi, we should go!” Kagami said.

Kuroko gathered his stuff and started heading towards the train. Kagami swiftly did the same and followed behind the fellow fifth year.

Kagami didn’t know why, but the little fifth year didn’t seem like that bad of a guy to have as a friend. Yeah, he was probably one of the weakest wizards in the school, but he had been the only person kind enough to help the lost American wizard. Kagami would’ve preferred running into the best wizard England could muster. For now, however, the pipsqueak would have to do.

As they neared the train, Kagami awkwardly coughed. “So, um, not like it’s a big deal or anything, but can I sit with you?”

Kuroko froze, and Kagami slammed into his back before he could stop himself.

Turning around, Kuroko’s light blue eyes met Kagami’s fiery red ones. “That would be fine.”

Kuroko went back to walking, and Kagami followed.  “By the way, my name is Kagami. Kagami Taiga. And I’m going to be the best wizard to walk through the halls of Hogwarts.”

Kuroko turned into an empty compartment, and Kagami headed in with him. He dropped all of his stuff on the ground and collapsed on the surprisingly comfortable seat. He thought that he would finally be able to relax when Kuroko spoke up from the other seat.

“You’ll never be the best.”

Kagami opened one of his eyes. “What?”

“You’ll never be the best wizard at Hogwarts.”

Kagami sat straight up in his seat. “And why’s that? You haven’t even seen me use magic. I was the best at Seirin, so I’ll easily be the best here!”

Kuroko sternly shook his head. “You don’t know about them, then.”

“Who?” Kagami asked.

“At Hogwarts, there are five fifth years that are renowned throughout the world for their tremendous strength and magic capabilities. They are prophesized to be the best wizards of our generation. The wizarding world has even given them a tremendous title: the Generation of Miracles.”

“Yeah, right,” Kagami spat. “If they’re that strong why have I never heard about them?”

Kuroko shrugged but didn’t break the intense eye-contact between the two of them. “But I’m warning you, Kagami, if you want to be the best at Hogwarts, you’ll have to work harder than you ever imagined. Those five…” something flashed behind Kuroko’s eyes before he continued “…they’re monsters.”

“It sounds like you’re afraid of them!” Kagami laughed. “Well, even if they are decent wizards, I’m not letting them get the better of me. I will destroy them all and become the best wizard in Hogwarts, no, the best in the world!”

“If that’s really your dream,” Kuroko said, not making fun of his dream like everyone else, even Tatsuya, had, “can I ask you a favor?”

Kagami nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Kuroko leaned forward in his seat opposite of Kagami’s. “Let me help you.”

“Huh?” Kagami said, raising an eyebrow.

“I want to help you take down the Generation of Miracles,” Kuroko said, a sharp look in his eye. “I’ll make you the best wizard at Hogwarts by the end of the year.”

Kagami almost laughed at the boy’s comment at first. This pipsqueak? Help him? Ha! There was no way he could help with anything besides Kagami’s studies. He needed someone who didn’t look like a single _expelliarmus_ could send him to the hospital.

But his hysterics were stopped by the fierce determination in Kuroko’s otherwise tranquil eyes. Kagami knew, deep down, the boy wasn’t asking Kagami for him to accept his helping hand, he was demanding it.

 _Well,_ Kagami thought, _I need at least one ally if I want to take on the Generation of Miracles, even if they are all talk._

“Fine,” Kagami said.

Kuroko’s lips upturned into a soft smile and he extended his hand in the form of a fist to Kagami. “Partners?”

Kagami backed away from the fist. “That sounds like a little too much.”

Kuroko’s stern look returned. “Are you serious about taking down the Generation of Miracles?”

“Hell, yeah!” Kagami exclaimed.

Kuroko tightened his fist. “Then we’ll have to be partners.”

Kagami didn’t know why Kuroko was so set on taking down their fellow fifth years that reigned over Hogwarts. He would ask the boy for his motives later. For now, he decided to accept the boy as a comrade. Anyway, if he was too weak and useless, Kagami could just drop him and find someone new to be partners with.

“Partners it is,” Kagami said.

The boys’ hit fists just as the train began to roll away from Platform 9¾ and on its path to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Chapter 2

“Akachin?”

A pair of heterochromatic eyes glanced up from the Daily Prophet, which was decorated by a multitude of moving pictures, and met large, purple ones. “Yes, Atsushi?”

“When will the trolley get here?” Murasakibara whined. He held up an empty bag that had held handfuls of candy not ten minutes ago. “I’m starving.”

A green-haired young man sitting to Murasakibara’s right pushed a pair of glasses up the bridge of his nose. The movement revealed individually wrapped fingers underneath the hem of his cloak. “The train ride has just begun. Surely, you can go without sucking on a lollipop for more than ten minutes?”

Murasakibara frowned. “Ah, but Midochin, I want candy now.”

“Shut up, you two,” a fifth year with deeply tanned skin groaned. His eyes were closed, and his head leaned against the compartment’s window. “I need some sleep.”

“Hey, Aominecchi, don’t be so mean!” a frivolous blond protested. “It’s the first day of the school year, and we only saw each other over summer a couple of times.”

Aomine scrunched his nose in disgust. “Ugh, school. That means I have to do work again.”

Akashi turned to Aomine, and even though the blue-haired boy didn’t have his navy eyes open, Aomine could sense one yellow and one red eye peering at him.

“I expect you to keep up your grades, Daiki,” Akashi warned. “Not one of you is to be a failure at Hogwarts.”

“Yeah, I know,” Aomine muttered. “I’ll just copy Midorima.”

“Hey!” Midorima protested, but was silenced by Akashi raising his hand.

“We have something important to talk about,” Akashi began in a level voice.

Murasakibara lowered his empty bag and Aomine begrudgingly opened his eyes.

“I can guess what this will be about,” Midorima said.

“You’re probably right, Shintarou,” Akashi said. “We need to discuss Tetsuya.”

Aomine felt his throat tighten, but he acted like he wasn’t affected by hearing that name. “What about him?”

Akashi knew Tetsuya was still a sensitive topic with Daiki, but he refused to let that lessen the importance of the topic. There was no time for sympathies for what happened in the past. They needed to fix it and rebuild the foundation that created the greatness that was the Generation of Miracles, which Akashi was the leader of.

“We need him back on our side.”

The compartment full of the Generation of Miracles went silent. Aomine averted his eyes to the landscape out the window and tried to erase the picture his once best friend’s face. He shut his eyes close, but it only worsened the images within his mind. Tetsu’s face appeared behind Aomine’s sealed eyelids. The boy’s ruffled chalk blue hair, his wide, innocent eyes, and his slender body. All of it made Aomine’s stomach painfully churn.

Kise was the first to break the silence with an obnoxious yelp. “I miss Kurokocchi! I can’t wait for him to come back with us.”

“That is if does,” Midorima said. A glint of light flashed across the lenses of his glasses. “From our last encounter, I still believe he will avoid us to the best of his ability.”

“But I’m in the same house as him!” Kise exclaimed. “He can’t avoid me if we share a dorm.”

Aomine shook his head. “You’re an idiot, Kise.”

Kise pouted. “Aw, Aominecchi!”

“Silence,” Akashi demanded.

The compartment immediately obeyed, and Akashi surveyed the other members of the Generation of Miracles. His eyes landed on Kise last.

“Ryouta, you are indeed in the same house as him, so it is up to you to start breaking the wall between us and him. You are probably the most…energetic one out of us. Tetsuya never had any ill-feelings for you until _that_ happened. It is best that you are pit with him.”

Kise nodded his head. “Yes, Akashicchi.”

Akashi grinned. “Excellent, Ryouta. Daiki, Shintarou, and Atsushi, you don’t have any instructions until I get an update from Ryouta by the end of the week. If given the opportunity, try to interact with Tetsuya. We are all bound to have at least one class with him.”

Aomine withheld a groan. He didn’t know how he would act if he was put in a class with Tetsu. Last year, they had had Defense Against the Dark Arts together. They were always seated next to each other, and because of Tetsu, Aomine had genuinely enjoyed the class that year. But so much had changed since then. Now with the pale boy in his class, Aomine would have no chance of focusing.

“Are you sure we need him so badly?” Murasakibara asked. He rubbed his empty stomach and raised an eyebrow. “I mean, he wasn’t that strong.”

“Tetsuya is like an amplifier,” Akashi explained. “Standing alone, it’s useless, but once plugged in, it heightens the power of itself and that of which is attached to it.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Yes, the Generation of Miracles desperately needed to get back their amplifier. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be as great as they had established themselves to be the last four years. They would be, as some thought, ‘all talk.’

And Akashi wouldn’t stand for that. He would make sure he and the Generation of Miracles would go down in history as the best team of wizards in the world. The only way to do that would be with Testuya’s helping hand.

“He’ll come back to us,” Akashi said, assured of his success. “He needs to."


	3. Chapter 3

“I have to admit,” Kagami said, his head swiveling around as he walked down the hallway leading to the Great Hall, “this place isn’t half-bad.”

Kuroko gave him a sideways glance. “What did you expect from Hogwarts?”

Kagami shrugged. “An old castle with cobwebs and rotting corpses all over the place.”

Kuroko faced back to the doors at the end of the hallway. “I do not think you’ll find such things around here. The school may be old, but it is well-kept and a place some people find more home-like than their actual ones.”

Kagami had liked the looks of the school, but not to that extent. He still would rather be back in his new apartment in London, or better yet, back at Seirin with Tatsuya and Alex.

“So, what were those things you were telling me about earlier?” Kagami asked.

“The houses?”

“Yeah!” Kagami exclaimed. “Like Slytherout and Ravenfoot, right?”

Slowly, Kuroko began to explain. “There are four houses at Hogwarts: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor. All of them have their prides and vices, but to be a part of one means to be a part of a family. It is unfortunate you will have to join one so late, but I am sure that whatever house you end up in will take care of you.”

“When will I get put in my house?” Kagami asked. Though he wouldn’t admit it, he was excited to get put into one of the weird-named houses. It was an aspect he had never heard of at Seirin.

“Since you are a new student, you will have to go with the first years. I will have to leave you when we reach the Great Hall, but do not worry, I will meet up with you after dinner.”

Kagami’s stomach began to growl at the word ‘dinner.’ “Will there be hamburgers?”

Kuroko gave him a disappointing shake. “No, but the food provided here is no short of excellent. I think you will like it a lot.”

“I sure hope so,” Kagami said, wistfully.

The group of first years, with the addition of Kagami and Kuroko, reached the Great Hall’s doors, where a woman dressed in thick black robes held a scroll scribbled across with ink. She waited in place until the anxious first years settled in silence.

“Good evening, first years,” the woman called.

A mixture of greetings were directed at the woman, and then more silence. She kindly smiled until her eyes found Kuroko.

“Tetsuya,” the woman said, “what are you doing here? You are supposed to be inside the Great Hall already.”

“I know,” Kuroko said. “Kagami is a fifth year but new to the school, so I was trying to show him where to go to get sorted.”

A smiled flashed across the woman’s face. “Thank you so much, Tetsuya. I can handle your friend for now. Please, go inside.”

Kuroko bowed his head to the woman before slipping through the grand wooden doors before the group. He hadn’t opened the doors wide enough to allow Kagami or any of the first years a glimpse at what waited beyond the wooden doors taller than a troll.

“Hello, first years and Kagami Taiga,” the woman greeted. “I am Professor McGonagall and the headmaster of Hogwarts. Inside this room…”

The headmaster continued, but Kagami accidentally zoned out. He was too focused on the audible hubbub beyond the doors. Kagami really couldn’t wait to figure out what house he would be a member of. He regretted not asking Kuroko which one he and the Generation of Miracles were in. Kagami had yet to get a glimpse of his self-proclaimed rivals.

“…we can head in,” Professor McGonagall finished, just as the doors behind her opened upon her words.

Kagami’s eyes widened as he took in the expanse room ahead of him. There were four elongated tables spread down the room, and at the end of the room, there was another table turned so it was perpendicular to the rest. At the four tables, each of their members dressed in specific colors. One table wore red, another yellow, a different one blue, and the last green.

The tables were barren of any food, but Kagami neglected his empty stomach as the group of first years shoved him forward. They walked to the end of the room, stopping only when they reached the front of the lone table. A single chair was placed before the table for all of the room to see, and atop the chair was an old, withered hat, overdone with an erected point.

Before Kagami could even comprehend the stars shooting across the ceiling, a feature never seen at Seirin, the sorting ceremony commenced with the superfluous hat opening its mouth—yeah, it had a mouth. The action had Kagami dropping his jaw. He was used to all sorts of weird tricks and magic, but this was some sort of oddness he wasn’t accompanied to.

The hat went straight into a song, and the rest of the room joined in. Only Kagami and a few of the first years kept quiet.

When the song ended, McGonagall stood tall next to the hat. The alphabetized list then began.

First there was a something-or-other Arlo. The eleven-year-old boy placed the hat on his head, and after approximately fifteen seconds of nothing, the hat, to Kagami’s utter surprise, screamed, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

Cheers emerged from the table clothed in yellow as the kid merrily skipped down from the precipice and entered his new family.

The process then continued for a Cross, then an Edder, a Franz, a Godson and on and on until Professor McGonagall reached ‘K’.

“Taiga Kagami,” she called. “A fifth year in age, but as a new student to Hogwarts from America, he will just be sorted now.”

The students at the tables murmured in interest, and one particular red-head from the table of green was staring down the new student with an intent look.

Kagami steadily reached the chair and allowed the extravagant hat to be placed on his skull.

“Ah, what do we have here?” the hat questioned. “A new student? This is original, though the decision is all too easy. With your determination and dedication, it’s no other option. GRYFFINDOR!”

The table of red roared as the new American boy leaped off the seat and tried to find an open spot. Some people squeezed over, and Kagami was able to fit himself in a cozy seat.

Kagami was greeted with lots of welcomes and congratulations. A young man sitting next to him stuck out his and introduced himself.

“My name is Junpei Hyuuga. I’m a sixth year and a prefect. Though new to our school, I expect you to be on your best behavior.”

Hyuuga pressed his glasses up, but they were hit out of place as a sharp hand smacked his back.

“Hyuuga!” a girl yelled. “Just because you are a prefect doesn’t mean you have to act so cold.”

The girl, seated opposite of Hyuuga, shoved the spectacled boy aside and extended her hand. “I’m Riko, and a prefect, too, though I’m a lot nicer than Hyuuga, unless you are, in fact, a troublemaker.” In a more serious tone, she added, “Gryffindor will win the House Cup this year, and I’m not having some American punk mess that up, okay?”

Kagami didn’t know what to think of Gryffindor’s prefects, but he nodded his head frantically. “Yes! I won’t do anything wrong.”

“Good,” Riko said. “Now, the ceremony’s almost over, so we can eat soon.”

“Thank God,” Kagami said.

The last first year, by the name of Zielinksi, went to sit with Ravenclaw, and the headmaster made her last words before dinner commenced. Once she extended her hands out and said her final words of the ceremony, the five tables in the Great Hall were suddenly jam-packed with glorious foods of all sorts. In front of Kagami, despite Kuroko telling him differently, were hamburgers.

“Ha!” Kagami called triumphantly. He grabbed a hamburger in each hand and began stuffing them down his throat. By the time he was on his sixth, there was ketchup dribbling down his chin.

“You might need this.”

Kagami felt a chill race up his spine as he heard the familiar voice. He slowly turned to his right and saw Kuroko sitting next to him. He was holding out a cloth napkin for Kagami to use on his red-tainted face.

“I told you to stop doing that!” Kagami yelled.

Kuroko tossed the napkin at Kagami wordlessly, and Kagami easily caught it. He began to wipe his entire face free of ketchup when he realized what it meant if Kuroko was sitting at the same table as him.

“You’re in Gryffindor, too?” Kagami asked excitedly.

Kuroko nodded. “Yes. House of the brave, to put it simply.”

Kagami dropped the napkin on his plate and reached for another hamburger. “Ah, at least I have a friend in my house. That means you can still help me out around school while we work on taking down the Generation of Miracles.”

Kagami didn’t mean to talk so loudly, but everyone sitting around him froze upon hearing his words.

Hyuuga’s eyes grew dark. “You want to take down the Generation of Miracles?”

Kagami didn’t see what the big deal was. “Yeah,” he said, mouth full. “I want to be the best wizard at Hogwarts.”

“Have you ever seen those guys?” a boy with dark hair and gray eyes asked. “They are, after all, miraculous.”

The boy began to laugh at his joke—though it hadn’t even been amusing— and Kagami tried to figure out why everyone was so unnerved by what he had said.

“Where are they?” Kagami asked. He desperately turned to Kuroko. “I want to see the guys I’m going to crush.”

Hyuuga looked to Kuroko, silently asking him if the American was serious, but Kuroko was already pointing his finger around the room.

“In Ravenclaw, there’s Shintarou Midorima,” Kuroko said as he pointed out a green-haired boy with glasses and a firm expression. He was talking to a bubbly pink-haired girl with one smoking body.

“Midorima,” Kagami muttered. “He just looks like a smart ass.”

“Don’t doubt him,” Kuroko warned. He didn’t elaborate on the Ravenclaw boy and adjusted his finger to a new table, the one of yellow. “In Hufflepuff, there’s Atsushi Murasakibara.”

This guy stuck out a lot more than the first. He had long, purple hair that carelessly fell to his shoulders, and his body towered all those around him. His plate was stacked high with nothing but sweets.

“There are two members of the Generation of Miracles in Slytherin,” Kuroko said, quickly moving on from Murasakibara. “First, is Daiki Aomine, who is undeniably the strongest of the five.”

Kagami noticed Kuroko’s voice had gone cold ever since bringing up the Generation of Miracles. It now grew to a new iciness as he mentioned the navy-haired guy poking at his food with a frown. Kagami began to wonder what exactly Kuroko had to do with the Generation of Miracles. His desire to know intensified as more and more of his competition was unveiled.

“And then there is Seijuurou Akashi, the ruler of the Miracles.” Kuroko’s finger lingered on a red-head with his back to Kagami. He was facing Aomine, who still looked like he’d rather be dead than at dinner with all the students.

Kagami went over the Generation of Miracles in his head when he realized something. “Wait, what about the last one? You said there were five.”

“There are,” Kuroko stated.

“Then who is he?”

“His name is—”

“KUROKOCCHI!” a shrill voice screamed.

Kagami’s ears painfully rang as the voice resonated in his eardrums. He watched in upmost confusion as a blond-haired boy raced from his end of the Gryffindor table for Kuroko.

The blond tried to wrap his arms around the small boy, but Kuroko quickly ducked to the side and allowed the obnoxious blond to face plant into a tray of cupcakes.

“AH!” the blond exclaimed. He pulled his frosting-covered face up with a large pout. “Kurokocchi should be nicer to me. We haven’t talked since last year.”

“I know,” Kuroko said. “I have been meaning to avoid you and the others.”

The cupcake-faced boy wiped off the traces of deliciousness from his cheeks and stared down Kuroko. Unseen by Kuroko or the rest of the group surrounding him, four other pairs of eyes, two from Slytherin, one from Hufflepuff, and another from Ravenclaw, were watching the scene play out.

“Kurokocchi,” the blond said, eyes narrowing as he turned serious, “we need to talk.”

“Right now?” Kuroko asked.

“Please.”

Kuroko wasn’t going to agree in the first place, but Kagami shot up from his seat and pointed an accusing finger at the annoying wizard and his over usage of the term -cchi.

“Hold up! Who the hell are you and why do you need Kuroko?”

“Uh, Kagami, you shouldn’t—” Hyuuga tried to warn, but the blond’s voice overrode his.

“My name’s Ryouta Kise,” the blond said with a giddy smile. “I’m a member of the Generation of Miracles and Kuroko’s best friend ever.”

Kagami turned to Kuroko with a confused expression. “What?”

“We aren’t best friends,” Kuroko said, staring down Kise. “We aren’t even friends anymore.”

“Kurokocchi, don’t be like that,” Kise whined. “Just because _that_ happened doesn’t mean we still aren’t buddies.”

“Yes, it does,” Kuroko said coldly. “ _That_ wiped away whatever friendship you believe we shared.”

Kise wiped faux tears mixed with remaining smears of frosting off his face. “But we were and still are friends!”

“Did you truly believe that after what you and the others pulled last year everything would the same?” Kuroko asked. Kagami couldn’t notice it since he only just met the boy, but Kise, who had been in the same house as the pale blue boy for years, could hear the hostility in his tone. “Did you imagine that after that stunt you pulled that I would ever want to be associated with people like you?”

Kise tried to find a way to escape the conversation with a lighthearted tone, but Kuroko was deathly serious. He wanted Kise to leave with his tail between his legs. Kise was about to comply and slip away to his seat when he thought of Akashi’s destined look of disapproval upon hearing that Kise was too weak to stand up to the Generation of Miracle’s amplifier.

Making sure of it, Kise looked over Kuroko’s head and found two boys at the Slytherin table staring at the Gryffindors. Aomine had his lips tightly pursed, and his eyes were shooting daggers into the back of the red-head beside Kuroko. Akashi, meanwhile, had spun around to calmly look as he waited for Kise to continue.

Kise had to succeed in winning back Kuroko. Whether it be tonight or tomorrow or at the end of the school year. He wouldn’t fail the Generation of Miracles and let a wizard with so much talent slip away into nothingness.

“Kurokocchi,” Kise began, the softness in his voice gone, “come with me.”

Kuroko evenly stared at Kise. “No.”

In a harder tone, Kise said, “You don’t belong with the people here! You belong with me and the others. I promise, come to my side of the table and we can talk about things. I can explain why we did what we did last year, and you’ll see it isn’t as bad as you think.”

Kuroko opened his mouth to refuse the blond’s request, but Kagami shot up from his seat and spun to face Kise. Kagami grabbed Kise by the collar of his shirt and pulled him so the boys were eye-to-eye.

“Listen,” Kagami warned, “you and the rest of the Generation of Miracles better back off of Kuroko. You may be too blind to tell, but he’s done with you guys. He doesn’t need to be surrounded by assholes like you that are only dragging him down. Now, he only needs me.”

Kise smiled at the violent American, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He lifted his arm up and tightened one of his hands around Kagami’s wrist. Kagami didn’t lessen his grip and neither did Kise.

“Who are you?” Kise asked with a bright smile and empty eyes.

“I’m Taiga Kagami,” Kagami said, releasing his grip on Kise’s shirt, “and I’m going to destroy you and all the other bastards in the Generation of Miracles.”  

Kise arched one of his eyebrows. “Those are big words for some random kid from America.”

“I’m serious, and I plan on upholding my promise to my partner,” Kagami added.

Kise looked amused by the audacity of this loud-mouth American, and he asked, “And who exactly is your so-called partner?”

Kagami laid his hand down on Kuroko’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “This guy. Tetsuya Kuroko.”

At the Slytherin table, no one noticed that the professors’ favorite prefect, Akashi, summoned a pair of red scissors. In a hushed fit of anger, he slammed the scissors into the wooden table so they were perfectly vertical. His act went completely unnoticed because the reaction from Aomine was much more dramatic.

Aomine burst up from his seat, shoving the two people sitting next to him to the floor. They were about to protest, but their words were swallowed as they took in the sheer anger within Aomine’s navy eyes. His hands were still on the table top, but his fingernails were scraping across the wood.

“Who the fuck does he think he is?” Aomine growled, staring down the red-head with his hand on Tetsu’s shoulder. Aomine wanted nothing but to rip that hand off of the chalk blue boy and send the red-head flying into the wall.

“Daiki,” Akashi warned as Aomine stepped out from his seat, “don’t.”

“But he—”

“Let’s see how Ryouta goes along with this first,” Akashi said. He glared at the ace of the five wizards in the Generation of Miracles until he sat back down. Fury continued to seethe from his pores, and his eyes looked like they could burn through the black robes of Taiga Kagami.

“However,” Akashi added, “if things go south, I will allow you to release your anger on this intruder to our school.”

Aomine was momentarily appeased by this, but both Slytherin members continued to watch Kise talk to Kagami and Kuroko.

Kise’s initial confusion over the Kuroko and Kagami partnership faded into pure fear. How? How had Kurokocchi already found someone new? And why were they both trying to defeat the Generation of Miracles, the group that Kuroko had worked so hard to help establish?

“Kurokocchi, is this guy really your new partner?”

“Yes,” Kuroko answered bluntly.

Kise didn’t expect this. He figured Kurokocchi would remain a lone, useless amplifier until the Generation of Miracles snagged him back, but now all that had changed. There was a new competitor for Kuroko, one that was already on the boy’s good side while the other five were definitely on the outs. Only one idea popped into Kise’s brain, and he decided that he had no other choice but to go with it.

With an over-exaggerated sigh, Kise said, “If that’s really the case, then I’ll go back to my seat.”

Everyone surrounding Kuroko and Kagami loosened up at these words, but Kise wasn’t done just yet.

“But, I have one more thing.” Kise turned his luminous topaz eyes to Kagami. “You. I challenge you to a duel tonight.”

“Kise!” Riko exclaimed. “Duels aren’t allowed. You’re acting like child, doing such stupid—”

“I accept,” Kagami said in a heartbeat. “And you can bet that I’ll kick your sorry ass.”

Kise smiled. “I’ll be happy to bet something on that, if you really are serious about it.”

“I’d bet a galleon that I could beat you in a duel,” Kagami scoffed.

Someone nearby whistled from the exorbitant offer, and Kuroko shook his head at Kagami, trying to tell the red-head that he should take it back. Unfortunately, Kise had baited Kagami, and there was no way he was letting the cocky American back into open water.

“Well, if we’re putting money on the line, I’d say this is a pretty boring bet. It’d be a lot more interesting if we bet, let’s say,” a hungry glint entered Kise’s eyes, “Kuroko.”

Kagami let out a burst of laughter before Kuroko could utter a word.

“You’re on!” Kagami said with extra verve. “Tonight, wherever’s good for you, pretty boy. Just you and me.”

Kise hid his excitement. Kagami had really fallen for his trap, and by the looks of it, he wouldn’t let Kuroko change his mind. He wanted to skip around the Great Hall in triumphant, but he’d save that for tonight, after he won the duel.

“I’ll find someone to give you the details later,” Kise said. He began to walk back to his original seat, at last, before he added, “I hope you aren’t all talk, Kagami. Kuroko is definitely someone worth fighting your all for.”

And with that, the only Gryffindor in the Generation of Miracles sauntered back to his spot surrounded by beautiful girls that gushed about how attractive he was. He could already feel his blood pumping as he imagined using his wand to wipe Taiga Kagami to the floor, making him beg for the Generation of Miracles to show him mercy.

Then Kuroko would be back in their hands, and they would make sure to never lose him again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this update is to your liking:) I still have a few more chapters stock piled from the original publication of this, but dang this is hard to work with. I feel like this is subpar but oh well whipping it out anyway. thanks for kudos and comments, I appreciate them all


	4. Chapter 4

“So,” Kagami began, as he pulled on his shoes, “how do you know the Generation of Miracles?”

Kuroko was curled up under the sheets of his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory. His eyes were beginning to lazily droop as he eased into slumber. However, he tried to maintain an even stare with Kagami as the red-head got himself ready for the duel that was to commence in less than half an hour in the potions room. Kise, for some odd reason, had the key to the room, though it wouldn’t have been hard to use a spell to open the door. An _alohomora_ would work just fine in the situation.

Kuroko kept silent for several seconds, debating on whether to reveal his past, which primarily revolved around those monsters, to his new comrade. He decided that it would come out eventually, and it was best to start off gradually and with the time when Kuroko and the Generation of Miracles had been on good terms.

“It was during my first year. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, our first test was to perform an extremely difficult spell. It was pass or fail, and I was unable to accomplish it no matter how many times I practiced or how many hours I spent reading the spell over in books. I went to the library to look for more information when I met the eleven-year-old boy that would later become the most powerful wizard at Hogwarts for this generation at the very least.” Kuroko bit his lip before extinguishing a weary breath. Kagami couldn’t see the boy’s face so well in the darkness of the dorm, but he looked... sad?

“That was the day I met Daiki Aomine,” Kuroko said, his voice barely a whisper.

Kagami thought over the Generation of Miracles’ line-up, and the navy blue-haired boy from Slytherin came to mind.

“You mean the guy that constantly looked bored at dinner?”

Kuroko nodded, the morose look he took on still lingering on his pale face. “He was in the library that day. I took a seat at the same table as him since all the others were full. He didn’t notice that I was there until he got up to leave and I told him that he forgot his quill. He was quite terrified at the sound of my voice. After he recovered, we began to talk, and I told him of my struggles with the test. He was one of the few students that excelled at the spell, and he agreed to help me pass the test. By the test date, I, too, was one of the best at the spell.”

Kagami tried to picture the pair of blunettes together, but he found it hard to believe that the two had ever associated with one another.

“What about the rest of them?” Kagami urged. “Kise seemed to be crazy about you.”

Kagami had meant for the comment to be a joke, but Kuroko didn’t crack a smile. Instead he rolled around in his sheets so his back was to Kagami.

“Goodnight.”

“Hey!” Kagami yelled before abruptly covering his mouth. Besides him and Kuroko, all of the other Gryffindor fifth-years were fast asleep. Kise had never returned from dinner, and the other Gryffindors had said it was because he was attending to special duties. Kagami had a gut feeling that that was definitely not the case.

With his back still to him, Kuroko asked, “What?”

“I asked you about the Generation of Miracles. Not just that idiot Aomine.”

Kuroko found that he had already shared enough of his story with the American fifth year. They had just met that day, after all. They were nowhere near the point where Kuroko felt confident enough to entrust to him the darkness of his previous years spent with the Generation of Miracles. However, Kuroko found himself liking the boy more than he had expected. When they had first met at King’s Cross this morning, Kuroko didn’t expect much beside a cocky, stuck-up boy. But when Kagami had talked of his high aspirations and Kuroko had visually verified that he should be physically fit to attempt to reach said goals, Kuroko knew that if there was anyone to help him save the Generation of Miracles from themselves, it was Kagami.

“Start easy with your spells when battling Kise,” was all Kuroko said, and then he pulled his bed sheets over his head. From underneath, he hastily added, “Please win. I do not like that you accepted myself as bounty, so the least you could do is make sure you keep me.”

Kagami wanted to persist with his questions about Kuroko and the Generation of Miracles, but it was past midnight and each passing minute drew Kagami closer to his duel with Kise. The thought of going head-to-head with Kise made his heart pound in sick anticipation. He couldn’t wait for the duel, and he hoped it’d be as interesting as the ones between him and Tatsuya back at Seirin.

Kagami pulled off his heavy robe, deciding that he didn’t need it, and threw it on top of the soon to be asleep fifth year. “Goodnight, Kuroko.”

Then Kagami exited the Gryffindor in a careful silence, and he followed the map of Hogwarts Kuroko had given him. It seemed to be old and was drawn on a tarnished roll of parchment. According to Kuroko, to show the different levels of the castle, all he had to do was say _eleas_ and the levels would switch up until starting back at the bottom. He iterated _eleas_ three times until locating the room labeled Potions, and he took off for the moving staircases in silence.

It took him a little less than twenty minutes to get to the classroom. It would’ve taken half the time if it hadn’t been for one of the staircases switching directions on him at the last possible second, so he was forced to wait for it to go back to his desired position.

Now, he strode towards the potion’s classroom. He noticed the door was already ajar, and he pulled his wand out of his pocket. His heart was hammering, and he greeted the sickening feeling that spread through his stomach with a smile. He was anxious, like he always was before his battles with Tatsuya.

_I’ll win._

Kagami opened the door wider and peeked his head in. The lights weren’t on, and no figure could be seen in the darkness. He extended his wand and whispered, “ _Lumos._ ”

A small orb of light radiated off of Kagami’s wand, brightening the dank room. Cauldrons were lined up on the tables which were surrounded by high standing chairs. In the corner of the room, Kagami saw his opponent.

“Hello, Kise,” Kagami said.

Kise shook his fingers through his luscious blond hair with a grin. “Kagami, you actually showed up.”

“Of course I did,” Kagami growled. “You don’t scare me.”

Kise cocked his head. “I don’t?”

Kagami rolled his eyes at the cocky wizard. “You pretty-faced twig couldn’t hit me with a spell even if your life depended on it.”

Kise stretched out his own wand and pointed it at Kagami. “Are you so sure about that? I mean, Kurokocchi did side with me and the others because he knew we were the strongest wizards at Hogwarts.”

“You can’t be that strong if he left you guys,” Kagami taunted. “He’s with me now, so he must think I’m way stronger than you or the others.”

“You think you can beat me so easily?” Kise asked, tilting his head.

Kagami nodded. “Hell yeah. I could take you and the others out at the same time if I wanted to.”

Kise grinned darkly, and he lowered his wand to his side. “Funny that you say that.”

“Huh?” Kagami began, just as the attack began.

The lights in the room came to life, and Kagami’s wand was no longer needed to illuminate what had hidden under desks or in the shadows as Kise and Kagami had spoken.

A red and yellow eye bore into him with mild amusement. “You fell into our rather nasty trap, Taiga.”

Kagami’s eyes darted to the four new members of the altercation. All of them were familiar faces, and Kagami felt his blood freeze.

Aomine. Midorima. Murasakibara. Akashi. The Generation of Miracles had assembled, much to Kagami’s surprise.

Kagami killed the illuminating spell but kept his wand ready to block any attack his five competitors could throw at him.

“What the hell, Kise!” Kagami exclaimed. “A duel is only between two people, not a five versus one.”

“But didn’t you just say that you could take us all on?” Akashi asked. A skeletal smile spread on his lips, but the amusement didn’t reach his eyes.

“I can!” Kagami said.

“Tsk.” Aomine glared at Kagami and sunk deeper into his seat at the table in the back of the classroom. “You couldn’t take on a single one of us as you are now.”

“If that’s true, why did Kuroko abandon all of you guys and go with me?” Kagami asked. He surveyed each of the wizards surrounding and noted the dark looks that entered their eyes. Aomine had sat up from his slump and glared at Kagami with new hostility. Kagami added, “He promised me that we’d take you all down as a team. He even made me do this over-exaggerated fist bump to agree to it.”

Aomine snapped out his wand faster than Kagami had thought possible. Before Kagami could even take a breath after speaking, a stream of light came soaring at him.

“ _Alarte ascendare!”_

The spell collided with Kagami’s chest, and he was sent flying through the air. He traveled the length of the room he had already crossed and slammed into the wall. The air in his chest was released as he fell to the ground with a hollow thud.

Kagami groaned and looked up to see the Generation of Miracles giving him a wide variation of looks. Aomine was grinning so wide that his lips seemed to touch his ears, and Kise was jumping up in down in excitement. Akashi’s small smile was still there, not growing or decreasing in size. Murasakibara looked only interested in the bag of chips in his hand, and Midorima was busy wiping off his glasses.

“You want to go, too,” Kagami said to Aomine. “I can take you out faster than pretty boy.”

Aomine rolled his eyes. “You’re hardly any competition. After all, the only one that can beat me is me.”

Kagami brought his wand and leveled it with Aomine. “I’ll change that thought of yours right now.”

Simultaneously, two voices rung out in the classroom.

“Daiki, stand down,” Akashi demanded.

“Kagami, please stop this,” the other said.

Six heads swerved to where the newest voice had come from, and they peered at the short boy standing at the entrance to the classroom.

“Kuroko?” Kagami exclaimed.

Kuroko only focused on Kagami as he entered the room. He put his hand down on the back of Kagami’s shirt and tugged it once.

“We need to go back to the dorms, Kagami,” Kuroko said, his eyes still not wandering to the five other wizards gaping at him. “Now.”

“But, I have to deal with—”

In a hushed, soothing voice, Kuroko said, “There is still a whole school year left for you to do that. For now, you need to become stronger. Taking on Kise one-on-one was a possibility, but there is no way you can handle the others, too.”

“I know I can,” Kagami persisted.

Kagami watched in horror as the Kuroko’s eyes got even wider than they usually were. His lips formed in a stern line, and he said, “I do not want you to get hurt.”

Kagami looked away from Kuroko and took in the Generation of Miracles. He didn’t know if they had all come with the intention of challenging him, or if they were there for another reason. Whatever the case, Kuroko wanted him out of the situation at once. Since the boy knew more about the Generation of Miracles than Kagami, he decided to listen.

“Fine,” Kagami said hoarsely. “Let’s go.”

“Thank you, Kagami.”

Kagami walked out of the room with Kuroko following right in his footsteps. Before the boy could leave the potions classroom, a voice called him back.

“Tetsuya.”

Kuroko didn’t turn to meet the voice, but he froze, hand still against the classroom’s door.

“There will always be a place for you here with us,” Akashi continued. “I can understand that you may be suffering from some traumatic thoughts after last year’s affairs, but I am certain that you will be enlightened again of how great of friends we all are. Especially after you see your new ‘friend’ utterly fall beneath us.”

“Thank you, Akashi,” Kuroko said quietly, “but I am fine with Kagami. I do not expect us to reunite any time in the future. Goodnight.”

Kuroko dropped his hand from the door and trailed off after Kagami, leaving his once friends behind in a deadly silence. He and Kagami had already left the wing when Akashi flicked his wand and released a spell that broke all of the glassware in the classroom. Shards of glass soared through the room, but they miraculously averted the other wizards, who were in as equally ill-moods as their leader.

Akashi tightened his grip on his wand. “Tetsuya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> take more of this mess. man, I really want to rewrite this but my willpower is so weak and tbh knb is in a slump for me rn. hope you enjoy! more to come, and maybe future chapters will entitle a certain sport that involves flying on a broomstick?? that was very subtle foreshadowing wasn't it haha. thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Kagami had always had the intention of joining the Quidditch team at Hogwarts. Back in America, he had been a starting chaser since his second year. He had been said to be one of the best Quidditch players to go through the school, along with Tatsuya.

Since befriending Kuroko, Kagami had been meaning to ask him about Quidditch tryouts and such but kept on forgetting since the little boy didn’t seem capable of playing such a violent sport.

But then that fated day in Herbology fueled a new kind of excitement in Kagami and his love for Quidditch.

Gryffindor had Herbology with Ravenclaw, the house with Midorima and that pink-haired girl, Momoi. As the class went by, Kagami and Kuroko were surprised that neither Midorima nor Kise tried to talk to them. Kise had gone over to Midorima’s side into the beginning of the class, and they now sat together as the professor continued to lecture. Midorima appeared slightly annoyed by Kise’s joyous presence and had his nose almost pressed into his notebook.

Meanwhile, Momoi had dashed from her seat to talk with Kuroko three times already. When she came, she would talk to him in a loving, affectionate kind of matter. There wasn’t a hint of the possessive tone all the members of the Generation of Miracles used when speaking to or of Kuroko. Kagami didn’t necessarily like Momoi since Kuroko had mention that she had deep relations with the Generation of Miracles, but he didn’t feel the detestation that ran through his veins whenever he laid eyes on one of those five guys when he looked at her.

It was the fourth time Momoi had scampered over to Kuroko’s side during class. For the most part, Kagami remained fixated on the Herbology professor as she lectured on about a species of rare plants that could grant someone extreme strength for a limited amount of time. If Kise and Midorima were focusing, Kagami had to, too. He wanted to be better than them in all aspects, including school.

But when Momoi said those words, Kagami lost all ability to focus on Herbology.

“So, Tetsu,” Momoi began, “are you still going to play Quidditch this year?”

“What?”

Both Kuroko and Momoi jumped at Kagami’s sudden appearance in the conversation. The whole room had heard him, and all of the fifth years in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw looked away from the professor to glare at Kagami. “Is there something you’d like to share to the class?”

“No,” Kagami said, as his face began to burn. “Sorry.”

The professor nodded her head at the apology and returned to teaching. Most of the students turned their heads back to the front of the classroom, but two heads lingered for a moment. Kagami made quick eye contact with Kise’s golden eyes, but then there were gone, looking up to the professor.

Once everything settled down, Kagami asked in a close whisper, “You play Quidditch?”

“I used to,” Kuroko said. “I decided to stop playing after last year.”

“But Tetsu, you’re the reason Gryffindor almost won last year,” Momoi protested. “You’re a terrific seeker.”

“Thank you, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to go out this year.”

Momoi’s cherry blossom eyes softened sadly. “Tetsu …you aren’t quitting just because of what happened between you and the others last year? Because you shouldn’t be afraid of them.”

Kuroko frowned and looked away from Momoi. He seemed to be calculating some response when Kagami made a comeback in the conversation.

“Hey, idiot.” Kagami hit his hand on the back of Kuroko’s head, almost sending the boy flying from his seat. Kuroko recovered in a second and stared down Kagami.

“That hurt,” Kuroko said.

“You deserved it.” Kagami jutted his thumb to Momoi. “If your girlfriend says you’re good, you should play this year, too. Plus, there’s something your team will have that it didn’t last year.”

Kuroko looked slightly confused. “What’s that?”

“Me,” Kagami said, with upmost confidence.

Momoi’s large eyes doubled in size. “ _You_ play Quidditch?”

Kagami raised one of his dual eyebrows. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“No, I didn’t mean to offend you,” Momoi said hastily. “It’s just… I don’t know. America has never been that great at Quidditch.”

Kagami snorted. “Are you kidding me? We’re the best.”

Kuroko gave him a wary glance. “I don’t want to disappoint you, Kagami, but you might not find that to be true here. The Generation of Miracles all play Quidditch, and they’ve all already received offers to join professional teams after they graduate.”

“Really?” Kagami asked, more interested in this new information rather than a stupid plant. “Does that include you?”

“No,” Kuroko said curtly.

“But he is amazing!” Momoi said in place of him. “He is almost invisible on the pitch, like a fly on the wall. Gryffindor almost beat Slytherin for the first time in the last five years because of him. He’s the best seeker around.”

“A seeker, eh?” Kagami looked Kuroko up and down. “You're still a shrimp, but I can see how you could fit in that position. You can’t be half-bad, especially if you were such a big help to the team.”

“I’m mediocre,” Kuroko said. “Nothing amazing.”

“Oh, come on, Tetsu,” Momoi protested. “I really want to see you play again this year. I think you can beat Akashi and—”

“That’s impossible,” Kuroko said firmly. “He and Aomine won’t lose.”

“Of course they will,” Kagami said. “There’s no way Gryffindor will lose to them if I’m on the team. This year, the two of us will help our house defeat Slytherin and the other weird-named houses so we can win!”

A faint smile twitched at the corners of Kuroko’s lips. “I’m still not sure if I want to play.”

“Well, you don’t have a choice,” Kagami said, “‘cause I’m making you play with me.”

The smile dropped from Kuroko’s face. “You can’t force me to do anything.”

“If you don’t play Quidditch, I won’t try to take down the Generation of Miracles.”

Kagami knew that Kuroko probably knew that he was lying. Now that he had just started to peel away the mystery and strength of the Generation of Miracles, he couldn’t stop now. He’d break all of them down to the core and crush them. He would be unstoppable, and they’d be at his mercy. There wasn’t a thing in the world that would keep Kagami away from his goal of becoming the best wizard at Hogwarts.

Kuroko, despite seeing his partner’s bluff, nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll go with you to tryouts today.”

For the second time during class, Kagami screamed, “What?”

This time, the professor demanded Kagami to wait outside the classroom until the lesson was over, and when he returned next class, he was to have a 1,000-word hand-written essay on a plant that makes one go silent forever done.

Kagami had been furious over the punishment. As he waited outside the classroom, he cursed Kuroko for just telling him now that Quidditch tryouts were today. Kagami may have been completely confident in his Quidditch skills, but he hadn’t touched a Quaffle since moving to England. It wasn’t like he had lost any of his natural or hard earned talent. But if Kuroko had said that the Generation of Miracles all played Quidditch, that had to mean that Kise would be at tryouts today.

Kagami would have to make today the best tryout of his life in order to impress Kise. If he successfully did that, then the pretty boy would spread the news to his cohorts. They’d be out for him if they knew he was as good as he was, and that’s exactly what Kagami wanted.

Herbology finally ended, and Kuroko came shuffling out of class with Momoi by his side. Kagami didn’t hesitate from jumping on top of the boy and bringing him to the ground. Kagami began to violently shake the pipsqueak back and forth as he yelled at him.

“You idiot! Why didn’t you tell me tryouts were today? What if I had missed them? I’m going to kill you.”

“Kagami!” Momoi shrieked.

Before Kagami could comprehend what had happened, he was flat-on his back while the backside of his head throbbed painfully. Momoi was standing above him, and she was holding onto Kuroko tightly.

“Are you okay?” Momoi asked frantically.

Kuroko didn’t squirm under Momoi’s touch, but he wasn’t interested in it either. He nodded his head and looked down at Kagami.

“He’s the one you should be worried about,” he said.

Kagami groaned and lifted back onto his feet. He could feel his brain pounding in his skull, and he felt like he could be sick.

“Damn,” Kagami coughed, “you have one hell of a hit.”

Momoi giddily smiled at his comment. “Really? I’ve been trying to work on my self-defense skills instead of just relying on magic. You know, for stupid Muggle boys and such.”

“That’s very smart of you, Momoi.” Kuroko finally backed away from the girl so obviously in love with him. “It’s great having a class with you, but I think Kagami and I should start getting ready for the tryouts.”

Momoi gave Kagami a dark look before turning back to Kuroko. “Are you safe with him? He did just try to hurt you.”

“He was just being an idiot, but thank you. Goodbye, Momoi.”

Momoi gave Kuroko a large smiled before darting away. Her skirt danced as she skipped away, and Kagami craned his head to get a better look at what was underneath when he got smacked yet again in his already throbbing skull.

“That’s inappropriate,” Kuroko scolded.

“It’s not my fault your girlfriend—”

“Momoi isn’t my girlfriend.”

“What?” Kagami looked back at the pink-haired girl just before she disappeared from sight. “But she was all over you.”

“We are very good childhood friends. That’s all.” With a hard glint in his eye, Kuroko added, “She is someone close to my heart, so please refrain from making any sexual advances on her.”

“Jesus Christ, don’t say it like that!” Kagami yelled, blushing. “But I get it. I’ll stay away from her.”

“Good,” Kuroko said. “So, onto the approaching tryouts. They are to begin in a little over an hour. I hope that’s enough time for you to get ready and meet in front of the pitch.”

Kagami had a flashback to the time when he and Tatsuya were almost late to a match because of a midterm that ended up taking over three hours for them to finish. They had only three minutes to get ready, and sure enough, the two of them had taken the pitch just in time for the match to start.

“It’s more than enough time, but aren’t you going to get ready with me? You said you’d tryout, too.”

“I will,” Kuroko said. Kagami could tell that he wasn’t lying, and he knew he could trust the boy to keep his word.

“But,” Kuroko added, “I have to do something first. I’ll meet you there. Please, avoid Kise and any of the others until then.”

Kagami knew Kuroko wouldn’t answer the question, but he still tried. He wasn’t surprised by the shaking head in response, and he decided the drop the topic.

“That’s okay.”

Kuroko’s eyes brightened as he realized that Kagami wasn’t going to pressure him into telling Kagami about what he had to do. A genuine smile crossed his face, and for some reason, the expression made Kagami’s heart tighten, and blood rushed up to his cheeks.

Turning on his heel, Kagami started towards the dorms. “I’ll see you at the pitch in an hour, then.”

“See you,” Kuroko called.

Kagami raced away from the Herbology room and waited for his heart to stop contorting, but whenever he blinked his eyes, the back of his dark eyelids showed that bright smile.


	6. Chapter 6

It seemed a little weird that there was a tombstone in the center of Hogwarts’s main courtyard. To many students it was an over-the-top honor to the poor idiot that had gotten mixed up with the monsters of Hogwarts, the Generation of Miracles. However, most of the fifth-year and older students humbly regarded the death bed of a kind, lost soul that had accidentally fallen prey to the five wizards more powerful than the headmistress herself.

The courtyard was empty except for Kuroko. Most of the students had already filed down to the pitch in anticipation of Gryffindor’s tryouts.

Kuroko had to leave for tryouts soon, but he didn’t want to. He just wanted to sit in the grass in front of the tombstone and feel close to his best friend again. So long ago was the time that Kuroko heard him laugh. So long ago was the time that he and Kuroko had gotten lost in Hogsmead. But not so long ago was the time that Kuroko’s best friend lost his life to the five other people he once held close to his heart.

For the thousandth, maybe millionth, time, Kuroko said, “I am so sorry.”

Kuroko knew that it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault, according to Madam Pomfrey, the nurse that had pronounced him dead. But Kuroko knew that that was false. Not one, but five people were at fault, and they would soon feel Kuroko’s revenge.

Kuroko knew it was time to go to the Quidditch tryouts. He wouldn’t back out of Kagami’s promise, even though after last year, Kuroko was terrified to play against _them_. Kuroko hated to acknowledge this fear. He may have been unafraid of the Generation of Miracles in a duel or in the classroom, but on the pitch there was no holding them back. That was when the true monsters came out.

As he started to get up, a strong hand came down on Kuroko’s shoulder, forcing him back to the ground.

“Hello, Tetsuya.”

Kuroko felt his blood freeze at the eerily calm voice above him. He shot up from the floor and spun around so he was facing the leader of the Generation of Miracles, Akashi Seijuurou.

Akashi’s hand fell to his side, and he regarded Kuroko with an even gaze.

“What are you doing here?” Kuroko asked.

“I’m sorry to inform you of this but this isn’t a private area. Anyone can visit this grave. Even me.”

Kuroko tried to hold in his hostility, but Akashi could see right through him.

“Don’t hold in your anger, Tetsuya,” Akashi said, smirking. “Fury, if used properly, makes you stronger.”

Akashi put his hand down on the tombstone, and Kuroko instinctively hit his hand away.

“Don’t,” Kuroko warned. “You do not deserve to touch the grave you put him in.”

Akashi recoiled his hand but brought it back in a second. Kuroko helplessly watched as Akashi grabbed the front of Kuroko’s robes and pulled him forward. The two shorter boys were pressed against each other, and Kuroko only had to lift his head the slightest bit to look straight into Akashi’s mismatched eyes.

“You refuse me nothing,” Akashi said, with a new kind of formality in his tone. “I get all that I desire, and that includes you, Tetsuya.”

Kuroko’s skin crawled. He tried to back away from Akashi, but it was only when Akashi let go of him that he was freed.

“Until we meet again,” Akashi said, as he walked away. Without stopping he added, “Good luck at tryouts today. I hope you have better luck than your friend in the ground did.”

Akashi disappeared into a hallway, and Kuroko held in a scream as new tears streamed down his face.

 

...

 

Kagami’s eyes darted around the pitch as he tried to pick out Kuroko’s fluff of hair. He had given up on finding Kise, who should’ve been in the crowd of returning players but wasn’t. Kagami had no idea where the blonde was since it was only a minute until the tryouts were due to start but Kagami found himself more interested in whether or not Kuroko would stay to his word or not.                                                                                                                           

“What’s wrong Kagami?” Hyuuga asked.

“If you’re nervous that’s okay!” exclaimed Riko, who was at Hyuuga’s side. “You may be late to the school, but if you prove yourself worthy of wearing the Gryffindor jersey we’ll take you in no time.”

Kagami didn’t hear a word the co-captains said because he finally locked sight of a mess of chalk blue hair.

Kuroko was slowly making his way towards the large group of Gryffindors trying out. His eyes were focused on the floor, and something about the way he walked made Kagami uneasy.

“Hey, Kuroko,” Kagami yelled across the pitch. “You actually showed up.”

At his words, the eyes of all the returning players widened, and they spun around to see the small, blue-haired boy raise his eyes and regard the group with an emotionless expression.

“Kuroko!” the returners screamed in unison.

The returners took off from the circle and instantly hoarded themselves around Kuroko. Kagami couldn’t hear what was being said, but he saw most of the returners pat Kuroko’s back and smile down at him. However, when Riko reached Kuroko, she grabbed him by his shoulders and started to violently shake him back and forth. Her shout was so loud Kagami was certain that the spectators in the high stands surrounding the pitch could hear her.

“What the hell, Kuroko! You swore you weren’t going to play Quidditch ever again after last year.”

A large returner Kagami had yet to meet pulled Riko off of Kuroko with the help of Hyuuga. Riko didn’t seem angry, but she did sound confused.

Kagami saw Kuroko’s mouth move. He finished speaking and after eating up his words, Riko calmed down. She started walking back to the group of Gryffindors waiting for the tryout.

The crowd of returners followed behind Riko and stood behind her as she paused in front of the newbies.

“I’m sorry about the distraction,” Riko began, her voice back down to a reasonable level. “We will now begin Gryffindor tryouts. If this is your first time trying out for the team please move to the left. Everyone else go to the right.”

At that around half of the crowd went to the left. Kagami hesitated. It was technically his first time trying out for Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, but he had gotten a spot on his old school’s Quidditch team in an instant. And if the rumors were true about England sucking at Quidditch it had to be a breeze to get onto Gryffindor’s team.

Upon Kagami’s delay, Kuroko said, “Kagami, please go to the left.”

Kagami glared at Kuroko but moved accordingly. He found himself among second-years who were anxiously waiting for the actual tryouts to commence. Kagami tried to hide his annoyance until he saw the looks of the wizards and witches on the right. That crowd, with their brand new brooms in hand and noses up high, didn’t look any more inviting than the one he already stood in.

“With that sorted, I’d like to introduce us returners.” Riko put her hand up to her chest. “I’m Riko Aida, and I’m a sixth year. I’m a Chaser and co-captain with this guy.”

Riko’s hand moved to Hyuuga, who gave the group a curt wave. “I’m Hyuuga Junpei. Sixth year as well and a Keeper.”

“We’re both happy to see so many new faces out here, and for those of you who have tried out before, I wish you the best of luck this year.”

There were murmurs of thanks before everyone went silent. They just wanted the tryouts to start.

Riko seemed to sense the anxious atmosphere and decided to drop the introductions. “You’ll get to know the rest of the team during the tryouts. I can see all of you are excited to start, so I’ll divide you into positions.”

“For all of you on the left here are some red jerseys.” Hyuuga picked up a bag full of a variation of jerseys and threw them towards the newbies. “It’ll make it easier for us to identify you from those who have already tried out.”

Kagami didn’t like the idea of having to wear such an unappealing jersey, but he pulled it over his head with an inaudible grumble and waited for the rest of the newbies to do so. Once the abundance of red jerseys were on, Riko went on.

“Now that we have that sorted, I’d like all those who would like to tryout as a Keeper follow Hyuuga.”

Hyuuga started walking off to the tall goals on the south side of the pitch, and immediately four other students went after him, staying close to his heels. Only one red jersey filed behind the line of prospective Keepers.

“Next, all Beaters will go with Mitobe, Izuki, and Kiyoshi.”

The large guy that had helped Hyuuga tear Riko off of Kuroko moved away alongside a tall guy with a plain face and guy with a grin on his lips. The large guy smiled and beckoned all the Beaters to follow behind him with a peppy tone. Kagami had a feeling that this guy was either the best or one of the better players on the team. That might not being saying much, depending on whether this team could actually win a game or not.

A bigger portion of the crowd went with the Beaters, but Kagami knew that the largest group would go to Chasers. Chasers got all the glory. They were the ones that got the goals which kept the game intense and interesting for the fans until the Seeker found the snitch. Depending on the skill of the Seeker, that could take hours.

Once the Beaters went to the side of the pitch, the only returners still standing were Riko, Kuroko, and two others Kagami didn’t know the name of.

“With this group left over, I’ll have all the Chasers go with me, Koga, and Tsuchida. Those who want to be Seekers will go with Kuroko.”

Kuroko’s eyes widened the slightest bit and he turned to Riko. “Captain, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I have no clue what I’m supposed to do.”

Riko seemed to have forgotten that Kuroko had just shown up and froze. “Um… well, just go through some of the drills I made you go through last year.”

Kuroko warily looked at the three Seekers walking towards him but nodded at Riko. “I’ll try my best.”

“You can stay here,” Riko instructed. “Koga, Tsuchida, and I will take our group to the other goals. We’ll meet back in the middle in half an hour to scrimmage.”

Kuroko still didn’t seem comfortable running his own part of the tryout, but as the three Seekers stood in front of him he gave them soft smiles and started introducing himself. Kagami found himself staring at his partner when Riko snapped her fingers in front of his face.

“Hey! You’re the American boy, right?”

Kagami tore his eyes away from Kuroko. “Yeah.”

The group of Chasers started following behind Koga and Tsuchida as they migrated towards the other side of the pitch. Kagami went to follow them, but Riko moved so she stood in front of him.

“Before we go, I need to have a word with you.”

Kagami didn’t know if this was a good or bad thing. He hadn’t done anything wrong and he had yet to show off his awesome skills. Why did one of the captains have to talk to him already?

“Okay,” Kagami said. “Lead the way, Cap.”

Riko spun around and walked off towards the goals the Chasers were heading to, but she stopped early, about a 100 feet away from the goals.

With her back to Kagami, Riko asked, “How did you do it?”

“Huh?”

Riko whipped around, and Kagami was shocked to find her eyes watering. He took a step away from the captain who looked close to overflowing with tears.

“How did you get Kuroko to come out here?” Riko sniffed and tried to wipe away the tears in her eyes, but she still looked like she was going to breakdown. “Last year… he swore to us that he’d never set foot on this pitch again. He hated Quidditch, the sport he used to love with all of his heart. It might’ve been because of what happened last year, but I never expected him to lose all of his faith. He’s such a hard worker and never gives up. But after the accident last year and our utter loss to Slytherin, he lost it. So how did you get him to come back out this year when we, his own teammates, couldn’t?”

Kagami felt his body tighten. He hadn’t expected such a question to come from the captain. Yes, he knew something had occurred last year that made Kuroko not want to play Quidditch thanks to Momoi’s conversation, but he didn’t know it had been so serious. With Riko getting emotional and the team being so eager to greet Kuroko when Kagami had called him out, Kagami came to a new understanding that forcing Kuroko to go to the tryouts was a good thing for not just him but all of Gryffindor.

“All I said was that if he didn’t come to the tryouts today I wouldn’t help him defeat the Generation of Miracles.”

Riko gasped. “What do you mean ‘defeat the Generation of Miracles’?”

Kagami shrugged since Kuroko had never fully explained the details of taking down the five wizards. “I don’t know what exactly Kuroko wants us to do, but I’m happy to help. If they made him hate something he loved, then they deserve some payback. Plus, I like a challenge. I don’t care how hard I have to work to beat them in everything this school has, but I’ll do it.”

The tears in Riko’s eyes started to disappear, and a new expression took hold in her face. A smile slowly spread across her face, and she beamed at Kagami.

“I don’t know if you’re great or suck at Quidditch, but you’ll forever have my thanks for bringing Kuroko back.”

Kagami didn’t know how to respond to such a sentimental comment from a near-stranger, so he decided to focus on the first part Riko had said.

“I’ll be the best person at this tryout, just you watch.” Kagami tightened his grip on his broom. “Let’s go.”


	7. Chapter 7

It had been so long since Kagami last held a Quaffle. He had almost forgotten how amazing it felt resting in his large palm as he readied himself for a jaw-dropping goal that would bring the crowd to their feet.

Though missing his time with the Quaffle, Kagami's skills hadn't disappeared. Not in the slight. Minutes into their shooting practice, Kagami had the other hopeful players glaring at him enviously as he continued to make shot after shot, not matter how crazy the angle was.

One of the second years whispered to his friend, "He's crazy good. Like a monster."

Even the captain was talking to the returners of the American.

Kagami had just shot the Quaffle while flying straight up in the air, as if he were heading towards the gray clouds. He hadn't even looked to see where one of the three goal posts were. He just threw the ball with appalling speed and grinned as he took a glance at the Quaffle successfully soaring through the goal.

"Amazing," Koga said.

Riko herself was astounded, but she was trying to mask it. It was hard to believe that Gryffindor would be getting another gifted player this season, and with Kuroko back maybe, just maybe, they could win it all this year.

"Do you think he's as strong as Kise?" Tsuchida asked the question that had been bubbling in Riko's mind.

Riko didn't dare to voice an answer. Kise was missing from tryouts for some reason. She knew that most of the other members of the Generation of Miracles thought they were too good to go to their house's practices, but Kise was different. Or at least Riko made him be.

Last year, Kise started missing practices. Riko, who was even the captain back in her fifth year, confronted him about it. He refused to go back to practice because that stupid blue-haired wizard of the Generation of Miracles, Aomine, was missing Slytherin's practices since he said he was too good to practice. Kise started thinking the same thing about himself and followed Aomine's lead. The only difference was that after a week of Kise not showing up, Riko cut him from the team for the rest of the year.

Kise had been angry to put it lightly. He would complain and complain to Riko whenever she had the misfortune of running into him, but she was firm. His fifth-year he'd have the chance to re-make the team if he actually showed up.

That was part of the reason why Gryffindor had started doing bad in their season last year, and all of Hogwarts knew it. Some fans of Gryffindor had begged her to bring Kise back, but she wasn't going to bend the rules just because he was one of the best Chasers to go through Hogwarts.

This year, she had been secretly hoping that Kise would want to come back to Quidditch. With him, Kagami, Kuroko, and the sound Gryffindor team, they could really be up for winning. Sure, each of the other houses had one of the Generation of Miracles. Slytherin seemed to have the two worst of the bunch: Aomine and Akashi. Riko knew little about Akashi, but he had become captain of the team after his third year. Riko never imagined such a thing to be possible, but something about the way the red-head carried himself with his head held high and heterochromatic eyes gleaming told her that he was meant to hold power. Not to mention his amazing abilities as a Beater. Contrary to most Beaters, he was on the shorter side, but that did nothing to lessen his raw skill.

Aomine was someone Riko knew a little better, and that was only because Kuroko used to be extremely close to him. Kuroko looked up to Aomine for the longest time, absolutely adoring him for his hard work and talent. But with the start of their fifth year Aomine had become so talented, he had lost all drive to work.

Riko didn’t know the gritty details about Aomine and Kuroko’s falling out, and she would never have the courage to ask. All she could do was be happy that now Kuroko had found a new friend: Kagami.

And better yet, Kagami was a brilliant Quidditch player. The only thing Riko needed to see now was him and all the other tryouts in action.

Riko lifted up her whistle and placed it between her lips. She let a shrill shriek escape, immediately ending all private practices occurring in the four corners of the pitch. She had told all of the returners the whistle meant to meet in the middle, so they all started flying to the center of the pitch with their respective tryouts following closely behind.

“Let’s go,” Riko said to the newbies.

She flew off the center with Tsuchida and Koga on her flanks. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Kagami was the only newbie daring to follow right behind the returners. He was also the only one not panting and looking close to keeling over.

In the center, both newbies and returners joined together. Riko wanted to talk privately with the returners, so she sent the newbies off.

Kagami lingered for a second, looking desperate to ask Kuroko a question, but then directed his broom down at the ground and flew out of sight.

“So,” Riko began, “do we have any ideas who we want to add to the team?”

“There’s a pretty good Seeker,” Kuroko said quietly.

Riko nodded her head and brought out her wand. She materialized a quill and parchment and looked back to Kuroko. “Name?”

“Furihata.”

“Okay.” Riko finished scribbling the name down. “We should get a back-up since our last one graduated last year. We really are lucky to have you back, Kuroko.”

A soft smile spread on Kuroko’s lips. “Thank you, Coach.”

Riko returned his smile and looked to the next person in the line of returners, Kiyoshi. “Any good Beaters?”

Kiyoshi grinned and held up two fingers. “Yeah, there’s two that I think have a shot of making it on the team. Their names are Kawahara and Hiroshi.”

Riko scribbled down the two names and moved on. “Hyuuga?”

Hyuuga pushed up his glasses and pursed his lips before saying, “They were all decent. I think we’ll determine the best during the scrimmage.”

Riko nodded. “Very well, then. That just leaves me with the Chasers.”

“Excuse me.”

Riko looked left and right in search of the voice before looking down at Kuroko, who had moved spots so he was at Riko’s side.

Riko held in her gasp at his sudden appearance and asked, “Yes, Kuroko?”

“How did Kagami do?”

Riko didn’t hesitate in her answer. “Amazing. He is one of my first picks to make the team. We just need to see how well he plays with the others in the scrimmage. You know how important teamwork is to our team.”

Kuroko’s face burst out into a smile and he nodded. “Yes, Coach.”

Riko and the rest of the team were caught off guard by Kuroko’s display, but nothing could compare to the shock they experienced next.

From above them, a voice suddenly screamed, “WATCH OUT!”

The group of returners snapped their heads up just in time to watch a flying form zoom through the middle of their circle, making a line-drive for the grass of the pitch. As the figure passed, it snatched the Quaffle out of Riko’s hand with a triumphant yell.

The yellow-and-red form then lifted its broom up at a smooth angle before it could crash into the ground and directed itself to the goal posts.

“Is that…” Hyuuga began, his glasses sliding down his nose.

Riko’s eyes finally caught up to the speed of the figure and felt her eyes double in size.

The form of Kise Ryouta spun up the goal post at a speed no one on the Gryffindor Quidditch team could achieve and threw the Quaffle in through its back side. The Quaffle hurled through the center goal post and didn’t lose its extreme momentum as it came charging in the direction of the returners.

Riko got a better position on her broom and flew forward to meet the ball head-on. She extended her arm out as the ball drew closer to her, and when it finally came in her range, she snatched at it and stopped its progression.

The Quaffle smacked her skin and made it painfully burn, but she bit her lip and focused on Kise as he flew back towards the returners.

As he flew, Kise started waving like a mad man. “Kurokocchi!”

“I can’t believe he came back,” Izuki said quietly, and the group couldn’t help but silently agree.

Kise paused in front of Riko. “Hey, Coach.”

“Don’t ‘hey, Coach’ me. You were late to the tryouts, and you aren’t a returner.”

Kise’s eyes drooped at her words. “But, Coach, I’m the best player you have out here, and I actually showed up! I was just a little late.”

“You missed the first part of our tryout. I don’t think you have a right to join in last minute.”

Kise was about to whine and grovel, but he went silent and angled his broom to face the left. A Quaffle from an unseen wizard was speeding forward, right on line to hit Kise straight in the back of his head. However, Kise had anticipated the silent attack unlike the rest of Gryffindor’s returners and stopped the Quaffle just like Riko had just done to his ball.

“Hey, pretty boy,” a voice called from below. “You have the nerve to show up here?”

Riko watched Kise lower his broom to get a look at who had dared to attack him, and when Kise saw the fiery red-hair and smirk on Kagami’s face, he frowned.

“I didn’t know that you played Quidditch,” Kise said, his voice eerily composed.

“Well, I do,” Kagami said. He spoke as loudly and heatedly as ever. “And I’m sure that I’m a hell of a lot better Chaser than you!”

Kise’s grip on his broom tightened and he floated back to Riko. “Coach, please let me play. I want to go against the American.”

“No wa—”

“Please, Coach. Do it.”

Riko’s head spun as a new voice came to play, and she gaped at Kuroko. He of all people should have been completely against Kise having an opportunity to play for Gryffindor, but here he was ready to give Kise another chance. Kuroko’s feelings towards Kise were part of the reason why Riko was so reluctant to give Kise a chance.

“Kurokocchi!” Kise exclaimed. His eyes were watering with tears of joy. “You’re too kind.”

“Kuroko…are you sure?” Riko asked.

Kuroko nodded. “On one condition.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

_“Kurokocchi!” Kise exclaimed. “You’re amazing.”_

_There was the slightest hint of a blush on the small boy’s cheeks. In between the cracks of his slender fingers was the snitch, its golden tint shimmering under the sun._

_“Ladies and gentlemen, what a conclusion to an excellent game!” the announcer shrieked as the crowd dressed in red and yellow roared. “After an intense hour of back and forth plays from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, the game has finally been settled with Gryffindor as the victor with 220 points!”_

_“GRYFFINDOR!” screamed all the students but those in Ravenclaw. “GRYFFINDOR!”_

_Kuroko smiled up at the cheering crowd and glanced back down to the snitch tightly sealed in his fist._

_“What a game from Gryffindor, especially Kise Ryouta.” With a sultry tone, the announcer, a sixth-year from Hufflepuff, added, “And can I get the crowd to agree that he is as attractive as he is great at Quidditch?”_

_There were groans from the male portion of the crowd, but the females were screaming as Kise waved his hand around. He was basking in Gryffindor’s triumph._

_“Hey, Kuroko!” There was the zoom of a broom, and the next thing Kuroko knew his best friend was hovering right in front of him._

_“Ogiwara, you had a great game,” Kuroko noted._

_“No way. You were the one that stole the show.”_

_Kuroko smiled at the lie. “You know that’d never happen. The whole team won, not just me.”_

_“Oh, stop being so humble. If Gryffindor didn’t have you as a Seeker we wouldn’t win as often as we do. I mean, it’s a gift that I even made the team this year. You and Kise were shoe-ins from the start.”_

_As Kuroko opened his mouth, two more figures appeared in front of him._

_“Midorima, Momoi.” Kuroko bowed at his two friends on the losing team. “Great game.”_

_The two did the same but came up seconds later._

_“We won’t lose next time,” Midorima said._

_“Neither will we,” Kuroko said._

_Ogiwara was silent. He had always felt out of place when Kuroko was with the so-called Generation of Miracles. The five guys were nice to him and all, but there was something about them that made Ogiwara wary. He had never mentioned this feeling to Kuroko since he was so close with them._

_Kise finally stopped waving and throwing kisses to his fangirls and turned his broom around to join the circle around Kuroko. He steadied his broom next to Midorima and patted the boy with green hair on the back, almost hitting his glasses off his nose completely._

_“Your shots were scary good,” Kise said. “The goal you made before Kuroko caught the snitch was almost from the other side of the pitch. Hyuugacchi didn’t even see it coming.”_

_“I should’ve scored more,” Midorima muttered. “You did well, Kise. Copying Momoi’s style is a hard thing to do.”_

_Kise stuck his tongue out as Momoi began to fume._

_“How dare you! I worked so hard to come up with my own style to keep up with you guys, and you just steal it.” Momoi folded her arms across her chest, which had gotten significantly bigger from last year._

_Kise grinned at Momoi’s annoyance. “Well, I guess you just have to come up with something new. You’ve got to have something in that big brain of yours.”_

_“I do!” she proclaimed. “And you can bet I’ll use it to beat you guys next time.” She turned to Kuroko, and her eyes softened. “Tetsu, you did great as always.”_

_“So did you, Momoi. I really was impressed with your style.”_

_Momoi’s blush was the same color as her hair. She ran her fingers through her long locks and tried to play cool. “Oh, it was nothing.”_

_“I think Akashi wants us to meet after the game,” Midorima said, pulling Kuroko’s attention away from Momoi._

_Kuroko nodded. It was common for the group to get together after Quidditch games. Somehow, Aomine was always able to get ahold of popsicles from Hogsmead and bring them._

_“Can Ogiwara come?” Kuroko asked, glancing at his best friend._

_Before any of the Generation of Miracles could answer, Ogiwara shook his head. “Sorry, Kuroko, but I have a ton of Herbology homework. I haven’t written a paragraph for the essay due tomorrow.”_

_Kuroko solemnly nodded his head, missing the relieved breaths Midorima and Kise had taken when Ogiwara turned down Kuroko’s offer. They had both been thinking the same thing. After game hangouts were just for the boys and occasionally Momoi. No one else was welcomed. Not even Kuroko’s best friend, and Ogiwara knew that. He actually had finished the Herbology paper the day after it had been assigned, but he didn’t dare tell Kuroko that. He knew that his presence at the post-game hangout was unnecessary and unwanted._

_“Well, we should all be going then,” Midorima said. “If Ogiwara has to write a full paper he must be in a rush.”_

_Ogiwara scratched the back of his head and laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m going to go, but you guys have fun.”_

_With that Ogiwara flew down to the team rooms to dress out._

_That evening, in the dark corners of a random hallway, the Generation of Miracles shared popsicles and talked about classes, Quidditch, and busty upperclassmen. Kuroko’s popsicle stick had claimed him to be a winner, and he felt like that as he looked around at the friends that surrounded him with big smiles on their faces._

“Kuroko, you’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met,” Kagami said, as he stared at the opposing team.

Kuroko was unfazed by the insult and just blinked.

Kagami had expected Kuroko’s condition for Kise to be something to degrade him, but this was the last thing he had anticipated. The line of opponents preparing for the game was composed of almost all returners. The seven player line-up went in Gryffindor’s usual set up: three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper, and a Seeker. The Chasers were Kise, Riko, and Koga. The Beaters were Izuki and Kiyoshi, and the Keeper was Hyuuga. The only non-returner was the Seeker, a second-year named Furihata.

Meanwhile Kagami and Kuroko’s team were made up of newbies except for Kuroko, and considering that they had decided not to use the snitch for the game, his position was essentially useless. Kagami didn’t even know the names of any of his other teammates. He hadn’t paid enough attention during their training to catch onto any of the names of the people that hadn’t made every single shot like he did. Kagami had high hopes with Kise appearing at the try-outs, but now those hopes were being flushed down the toilet.

“Why didn’t you put Kise on the newbies’ team?” Kagami asked. “If you hate him so much, you should’ve done that.”

Kuroko flew off instead of responding, and Kagami was left alone in the center of the pitch, hovering directly in front of Kise. Kise’s golden eyes smoldered as he grinned at the American boy. Kise knew he had the upper hand. He knew he was going to win.

This pissed Kagami off. His fingers clenched the thick wood of his broom, and he felt his mind buzz as everything in the world became insignificant. All that mattered in that moment was that he beat the stupid pretty boy in front of him. He didn’t care if he was the only one on the team. He would win this by himself if he had to.

Below, the ref of the game, Mitobe, waved his hands, as if trying to signal the rules of the game to the fourteen players. No one understood what he was trying to do except for Koga.

“He’s telling us that the game will go up until we run out of time on the pitch, which isn’t long,” Koga interpreted. “There’ll be no snitch, so Seekers can act in whatever position they desire. If Kise wins, he’s back on the team.”

“Like hell he’ll win,” Kagami shouted.

Kise’s grin disappeared, and in seconds, the floozy fifth-year was gone. He had been replaced by a wizard with cold eyes that absorbed everything going on around him.

Mitobe lifted the Quaffle in his hand and readied the whistle in his mouth. Everyone prepared their broomsticks for take-off. Kagami knew that the Quaffle would most likely be thrown in between him and Kise. It would be perfect for him to start off the game by stealing the ball away from Kise.

The whistle sounded just as Mitobe threw the Quaffle high into the air. Kagami and Kise snapped forward to seize the ball. Kagami got his hand on it first. Barely.

Kagami, with the Quaffle securely tucked in his arm, took off from the center and made a line-drive for the hoops. Kise reacted quickly and was on his side in seconds.

_Damn_ , Kagami thought. He had been hoping to send a message to Kise and the Gryffindor team by scoring on his own right away, but with Kise gaining speed and closing down on him, he’d need to pass. But to who? None of the other first-years had moved fast enough when Kagami captured the ball, and he was left alone in the opponent’s half of the pitch.

Kise was almost side-by-side with him. Kagami decided that with no one to pass to, he’d have to pull a move.

Kise’s hand reached out to swipe the Quaffle out from Kagami’s clutch, but his hand fell through air as Kagami dropped like a rock.

Kagami was directing his broom to the ground at an astounding speed. He had thought that he had escaped Kise’s quick defense, but then he heard the whip of someone else’s clothes close by. Kagami glimpsed up and saw Kise soaring downward to follow Kagami.

Kagami’s eyes widened. _He’s fast._

Kagami snapped his broom up in a sharp arc. He was nearing the goals but was too low to score, even with his shooting proficiency. He had to get up and score before Kise could reach him, if that was even possible. Each millisecond that passed by, Kise sped up, continuing to close the gap Kagami had just made moments ago. Everything would just work better if only Kagami had someone to pass to!

As if hearing his silent plea, someone called, “Kagami, ball.”

Kagami’s eyes followed the source of the voice and found, hovering inches from the ground with no one near him, was Kuroko. His hands were extended out and ready for the Quaffle.

Kise seemed to not have heard Kuroko and remained focused on stopping Kagami, who was continuing his incline for the goals.

Under his breath, Kagami said, “You better not mess this up.” He then threw the Quaffle right into Kuroko’s hands.

Kise skidded to a stop to see what Kagami had done. His eyes flashed over to Kuroko, whose hands were just touching the Quaffle. Despite himself, Kise smiled.

“I should’ve expected that from you, Kurokocchi.”

Kise knew it was pointless to chase down the Quaffle and followed after Kagami instead, but his slight delay in watching the Quaffle soar over to Kuroko had lost him some ground. He tsk-ed as he realized that Kagami would get the first point.

Meanwhile, Kagami was speeding straight for the goals. He lingered between the center one and the one on the left and kept looking down to see where Kuroko and the Quaffle had gone. Every time he took a peek, Kagami found no trace of either. He tried relieving his panic by deciding on where he planned on launching his shot.

The Quaffle soared into Kagami’s hands without warning. He almost yelped from surprise. He hadn’t seen it or Kuroko ever since he passed the Quaffle off. But now that it was in his hands and Kise was considerably behind him, Kagami chucked the Quaffle to the center hoop.

Hyuuga swooped to the center goal in an attempt to hit the Quaffle away, but he was a second late. The Quaffle made its mark, and the team of newbies was the first to put a score on the match.

Kagami threw a victorious fist in the air before focusing back on the match. The Quaffle was cradled in Riko’s hand, and she was making a bee-line for the opposite side of the pitch.

The newbies were slow, and Riko was surprisingly nimble. She avoided one Bludger that came drilling towards her, and the other was deflected by Kiyoshi.

Kagami swore as he realized that he was the only that could stop Riko. He flew after her, urging his broom to zoom past all the newbies crawling at a pace so slow toddlers just learning to play Quidditch could out fly them. And where the hell was Kuroko?

Coming from behind Riko, he was able to catch her off guard and hit the Quaffle out of her hands. She yelped in shock and slowed down enough for Kagami to pass her and follow after the Quaffle as it descended. His fingers just grazed its rough surface when another hand smacked it out of his way.

Kagami saw the rush of blond hair and chased after it at once.

“Kise,” he growled.

Kise pulled the Quaffle under his arm before looking behind him. Kagami could hardly believe it when he saw Kise smile at him. It wasn’t a remotely warm smile. If anything, it was the sadistic smile an insane murderer revealed just before slaughtering someone.

Kise faced back forward and danced around the newbie that had dared to try to stop him. As Kise passed her, the newbie stared at him in awe, not even bothering to chase after him.

“Move!” Kagami yelled, as he soared past the newbie.

Kagami flew inches behind Kise as he neared the goals. The returners on his team were calling for the Quaffle, and Kise should’ve passed. Kagami was gaining on him while the rest of his team was hardly being watched over by Kagami’s teammates.

Kagami felt like something was off when he reached Kise’s side. Moments ago, Kise had been so fast. Had that taken all of his efforts?

Since he was next to Kise, Kagami extended his hand to dislodge the Quaffle from his grip. He had the perfect angle to get the Quaffle for himself, but before he could successful reclaim it Kise lost all of his momentum and went tumbling towards the ground.

Kagami couldn’t help but pause for a fraction of a second. That was the exact move Kagami had pulled on Kise in the first minute of the match, in the same exact situation but with their roles switched. Completely stopping your momentum and changing your direction entirely was no easy maneuver. Alex had spent weeks helping Kagami and Himuro perfect the move to the best of their abilities, which Kagami had thought to be pretty damn good.

He hated to admit, but Kise had somehow done the move better, smoother. It had not only stopped Kagami in his tracks, but it had allowed Kise to form a much larger gap than Kagami had had on him earlier.

Kagami snapped out of his daze and followed after Kise. Kise couldn’t duplicate anything else Kagami had done since he didn’t have Kuroko on his team. All he could do was pull up from his low level on the pitch and make his shot, if Kagami didn’t get to him first.

Kagami couldn’t believe it when he saw Kise bring his arm back to shoot. He hadn’t even tried climbing up from his position. He would have to throw the Quaffle at an incredible arch and speed to make it through one of the goals. It would be much easier to hand the Quaffle off the Riko or Koga.

Kise released the Quaffle, and all the members on both teams watched with unhinged jaws as the Quaffle made up the ground Kise hadn’t bothered to make up and passed through the left goal.

Kise watched as his excellent shot made the game even. To no one in particular, he said, “I’m still not as good as Midorimacchi at shooting, but I’ve gotten better.”

“That’s true.”

Kagami jumped from the sound of Kuroko’s voice. He couldn’t form the words to ask what Kise had meant or where Kuroko had been since Kise’s attack, but the blue-haired boy soared past him without a second glance. He only said to Kagami, “Start flying towards the goal.” Then he was heading to the Quaffle.

“Shit,” Kise swore, directing his broom not for Kuroko, but Kagami.

Kagami took this as his sign to listen to Kuroko. If what he had said got Kise into a twist, then it was bound to be bad for the team of returners.

Kagami headed for the goals Hyuuga was keeping a watchful eye over. He had his back to Kuroko, which made him more doubtful than ever as to what the Seeker had planned for him.

Kagami was about ¾ of the way to the opposite side when a group of voices from behind him screamed, “Kagami!”

He looked over his shoulder to see what had caused the commotion. The first thing he saw was Kise narrowly dodge a Bludger. The iron-covered ball had slowed Kise from his chase and left Kagami room to fly without worrying about someone being on his tail.

The second thing he observed was that an object was zooming across the pitch. Kagami was sure if the item moved any faster, it would be coated in flames. He barely had the sense to lift his hand up to catch it as he realized it was barreling right towards him.

The Quaffle crashed into Kagami’s hand with full force. He was almost hit off his broom catching it, but he forced himself upright. And when he realized that the Quaffle was in his hands, Kise was behind him, and the rest of the returners were farther than him, Kagami faced back to the goal and roared as he neared Hyuuga.

It was needless to say that with no one chasing him and one man blocking three goals, Kagami made the shot and put the newbies ahead again.

Kagami had no clue how Kuroko had shot the Quaffle at him so quickly and accurately, but he knew he was going to utilize the awesome pass for the rest of the scrimmage.

For twenty minutes, the teams remained close in points. The ones to rack up the points were none other than Kagami for the newbies and Kise for the returners. Kagami had just made a shot, totaling the game to 100-100.

All the newbies seemed exhausted, and even the returners looked a little worn-out. Kagami felt like he was on fire. He wanted to keep challenging Kise, seeing how far he could go. Kagami had used every one of his moves, and Kise had been able to accomplish all of them within a minute of seeing it. Kagami hated that the guy could do such a thing, but he had to respect him for having the talent of being a copy-cat.

Kise had just retaken the ball for himself when a sharp whistle cut through the match. Everyone glanced down to Mitobe, who was waving his arms around in motions Kagami couldn’t define.

“He says next team to score wins,” Koga translated. “Slytherin has practice time in a few minutes.”

A wicked grin covered Kise’s face, and Kagami felt his gut tighten. Kise and the returners had the advantage in this instance. They were starting with the ball, and all of the members on the newbie team were near their breaking point, save Kagami and Kuroko. Sweat soaked the newbies shirt, and they breathed like Riko had just forced them to run circles around Hogwarts for hours. It was up to Kagami to get back the ball since Kuroko’s defending skills were awful compared to his passing ones.

Mitobe signaled for the game to continue, and Kise shot off at his top speed. Kagami flew for him from the side. He knew Kise would try to take the final shot for himself. A pompous ass like him wanted all the glory, especially if that meant putting Kagami beneath him.

Kagami gritted his teeth and swooped to Kise’s side.

“You still think you can win?” Kise huffed.

Kagami knew if he tried taking the Quaffle directly from his hands, Kise would use on Kagami’s own moves against him. He had to figure out a way to catch Kise off guard and take the Quaffle for himself. But how?

Kise was halfway across the pitch when Kagami saw a flash of blue from above. Kise was too focused on the goals ahead to notice anything else, so when Kuroko glided next to Kise on the side Kagami wasn’t guarding, Kise didn’t sense anything off.

Kagami’s eyes met with Kuroko’s, and though there were no words shared between them, they both knew what they had to do.

Kuroko’s mouth silently moved as he counted down from three. When his lips formed the word ‘one’, he and Kagami simultaneously moved so they both crashed into Kise.

Kise yelled as he was sandwiched between Kagami and Kuroko, and the Quaffle fell free from his hands. Kagami pulled himself from Kise’s side and rushed to retake the Quaffle and score.

Before he could get too far, Kise, his eyes glowing orbs of rage, snapped to race after Kagami. He spun his broom before ducking down to chase Kagami, who was moving more vertically than horizontally. Kagami had intended to do this so Kise would have to take a different approach to stop him.

Kise’s sudden switch in direction had left Kuroko with no way to avoid Kise’s leather boot as Kise zoomed for Kagami.

Kise’s foot freely swayed off his broom and nailed Kuroko straight in his brow. Kagami didn’t see it, but he heard the sickening crunch of bone. The noise was enough to make him look behind his shoulder even with the ultimatum of the game at risk. He froze as he saw Kuroko—blood sticking his hair to his forehead—slip off his broom and plummet towards the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

Everything disappeared as Kuroko hurtled towards the ground. Nothing mattered to Kagami in that moment. Not Kise, not victory in the Quidditch match. The only thing he could think of was that he had to save Kuroko.

Kagami let the Quaffle fall from his hands. The deciding goal he had planned on making was suddenly the most insignificant thing in the world.

He dropped his broomstick and soared after Kuroko, who was descending at an alarmingly rate. For a fraction of a second, Kagami allowed himself to think that he wouldn’t reach Kuroko in time. That drop couldn’t be fatal… could it?

_No,_ Kagami told himself. _It won’t be fatal because I_ will _save him._

With that thought in his mind, Kagami rushed after his partner at the fastest speed he could muster.

Kuroko was halfway to the ground, and Kagami had yet to close the gap. He could feel himself panicking in the back of his mind, but it washed away as a rush of yellow passed him.

It was Kise! He was hurrying to catch Kuroko, too.

Kagami knew he should be happy that someone who had a little more speed than him was trying to save Kuroko, but it made him angry. He wanted to be the one to keep Kuroko from breaking all his bones. Kise, a member of the group Kuroko had claimed to hate so much, shouldn’t be his savior. That title belonged to Kagami and Kagami alone.

Kagami thought he had been pushing his speed to its maximum ability, but after seeing Kise pull in front of him, he miraculously accelerated. In a drastic jump, Kagami reached Kise’s side.

Kise didn’t look to Kagami when the sight of Kuroko was obviously more important, but Kagami could tell that he sensed him at his side. Kise tightened his hands around his broom and nudged forward. Kagami ground his teeth and followed after him.

Kuroko had seconds before he’d hit the ground, and neither Kise nor Kagami was close enough to yank him up. An iron grip of fear tightened around Kagami’s heart. He was smart enough to know that the fall would have Kuroko in the infirmary for weeks, maybe even months. His lithe body would be more broken than whole.

For some reason, Kagami thought of Kuroko’s smile, the one that he had worn today at the end of Herbology. How it had made Kagami flustered but happy at the same time. How could Kagami let that smile disappear?

“KUROKO!” Kagami yelled at the top of his lungs, as he propelled forward so he was a full broom’s length in front of Kise.    

Kagami reached out his hand to grab any part of Kuroko and save him, but he was centimeters away from making contact. He tried pushing himself faster, but this was it. This was his maximum speed.

Kagami swore with every profane word he knew. He was so close. At this distance, he could see the details of Kuroko’s face. His eyes were closed, hiding the shimmering blue irises within. The blood was strikingly bright against his sky colored hair. Kagami could see the exact source of the blood. On Kuroko’s forehead, his skin had been cleanly torn, as if done by a knife, creating a long, straight wound that seeped crimson against his fair skin.

Kuroko was three feet from colliding into the lush grass of the pitch. Kagami knew it but wouldn’t admit it. He wouldn’t save Kuroko in time.

As this thought registered in his mind, a blur rushed past Kagami’s eyes at such a speed he had almost missed the sight. He blinked back and saw that the blur was gone, and so was Kuroko.

Kagami pulled up from his speeding descent before he himself could crash into the ground. He was barely able to make it in time. The underside of his broom brushed the well-groomed grass of the pitch before he hovered up a few feet from the ground.

Kagami looked left and right, trying to find where Kuroko and the blur had gone.

“Up here, you bastard.”

Kagami’s eyes shot up before widening at the sight before him. Hovering on a broom wasn’t Kise or any other member of Gryffindor for that matter. Flying in front of Kagami was none other than Aomine Daiki. He held Kuroko with one arm and cradled him against his hip. The smaller boy was limp in Aomine’s grip, his limbs dangling and immobile.

Kise flew next to Aomine. “Aominecchi! You saved Kurokocchi.”

A scowl was etched on Aomine’s face as he spun on Kise. “This was your damn fault. You should watch where you’re flying.”

Kise tried to respond, but his words got caught in his throat. Kagami could see the formation of tears welling up in his golden eyes, but Kise wiped them away before they could flow.

“I’m sorry,” Kise said hoarsely, before turning his head to the ground in shame.

Aomine _tsk_ -ed at Kise and flickered his eyes over to Kagami, who was still floating several feet beneath him.

“Don’t think you’re not at fault either, you American prick,” Aomine growled. “If you had been decently fast, I wouldn’t have to fly my ass out here and save him.”

Aomine readjusted his grip on Kuroko so his hand was firmly pressed against his midsection. Kuroko swayed under the movement, unable to struggle out of Aomine’s grip. Kagami was sure that Kuroko would despise to be kept under Aomine’s arm.

“Take your hands off him,” Kagami barked. “Aren’t you supposed to have practice right now? Give me Kuroko and I’ll take him to the infirmary.”

Aomine snorted. “You think I’m gonna hand Tetsu over to you of all people.” A spark flared in Aomine’s eyes, and his hand tightened around Kuroko. “He belongs to me.”

“To us.”

Kagami had been so fixated on Aomine’s appearance that he had been unaware of the movement around him. All of the Gryffindor team had settled on the ground with the tryouts heading back to change. Meanwhile, the returners stood together underneath Kagami, Kise, and Aomine, monitoring the situation with wary eyes.

However, the greatest change had come from the Slytherin team. They had surfaced from essentially nowhere, huddled up like an army. Their brooms were at their sides, ready to be mounted, but the only ones to have taken flight were Aomine, and now Akashi.

Akashi glided down from above and steadied his broom so he was next to Aomine. His red hair was as bright as Kuroko’s blood.

“Daiki, hand Tetsuya over to Ryouta. He’ll take Tetsuya to the infirmary.”

“Wait—” Aomine protested.

In a sterner but still even voice, Akashi said, “I’m not allowing you to miss practice, Daiki. You will hand Tetsuya over to Ryouta so he can get proper treatment. We can visit him following our practice.”

Aomine made a sour face, but he finally listened. He grudgingly handed Kuroko off to Kise. “Try not to get him any more hurt than you already have,” Aomine grumbled.

Kise’s face pained, but he gathered Kuroko in both of his arms while maintaining balance on his broom.

“It’ll be faster if you fly him to the infirmary,” Akashi said.

“Hey!” Kagami yelled. “Isn’t that not allowed? Anyway, I’m the one who should be taking Kuroko?”

Akashi’s eyes fell onto Kagami. Kagami felt his skin crawl as those hypnotic, heterochromatic eyes bore into him. It was as if those mismatched eyes were tearing Kagami apart and analyzing every fiber of his being.

Without an answer, Akashi glanced away from Kagami. “Ryouta, get going.”

“Yes, Akashicchi.”

And before Kagami could protest, Kise gathered Kuroko under one arm and gripped the broom with his opposite one. He was soaring for the castle in an instant.

Kagami knew very well that flying within the castle was prohibited, but he wasn’t going to let Kuroko go off with Kise.

“Hey!” Kagami yelled, as he flew after Kise.

Protests rang from the hoard of Gryffindor returners, but their voices were soon nothing but a murmur as Kagami chased down Kise. He was exhausted. His breaths came out in rugged heaves, and sweat fully drenched his cloaks. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this tired, but he pressed on all the same. Kise looked as if he was worn out, too, and he had Kuroko’s additional weight—though it might not have been much—on him.

“Kise!” Kagami was able to get out in between a pant. “Give me Kuroko.”

Kise ignored him and kept up his pace, which seemed snail-ish compared to his usual speed. However, it still wasn’t like Kagami was catching up to him.

The towering doors of the castle were wide open for students to leave and enter. Many of the traversing bodies cloaked in black and their house colors turned their heads to the sky as Kise, who was shortly followed by Kagami, zoomed into the castle.

The castle was still arcane to Kagami. He had relied on Kuroko too much to memorize the convoluted halls and moving staircases. Now he had to keep his eyes focused on Kise to avoid getting lost.

From below, Kagami heard one of the students shout, “Get a professor or the headmistress!”

Kagami swore. He hadn’t been at Hogwarts for more than a week. He couldn’t be expelled so soon. Not when he and Kuroko still needed to take down the Generation of Miracles.

Even with the threat of expulsion, Kagami kept on Kise’s trail. Kagami’s eyes were starting to go hazy from exhaustion, and the skin on his palms was rubbed raw from his broom. He was slightly relieved when Kise landed in front of a pair of doors that were foreign to Kagami.

Kagami planted his feet into the ground as he landed. He practically teetered off his broom while dismounting it. By the looks of it Kise was struggling with moving and breathing as much as Kagami.

“Give me Kuroko,” Kagami huffed.

Kise, who was steadying Kuroko in his arms and avoiding Kagami’s eyes, shook his head. “We’re already here. Just let it go.”

“But—”

“This is the least I can do for him!” Kise said, suddenly raising his voice to a shout. He lifted his eyes, and Kagami was taken aback to see a trail of tears leaking from his bloodshot eyes. “I was the one that hit him, after all.” Kise let more tears flow, and he bowed his head so it touched Kuroko’s bloodstained one. “I’m so sorry, Kurokocchi.”

Kagami was at a loss for words. He could hear the utter heartbreak in Kise’s voice, and the last thing Kagami had ever expected from the Kise that had almost bested Kagami in Quidditch was for him to cry over an accident that hadn’t ended as tragically as it could have. Why would he be crying over a person that hated him, anyway?

If it had been anyone outside of the Generation of Miracles crying in front of Kagami, he would’ve tried to comfort them. But this was Kise, one of the five monsters that had earned Kuroko’s hate. Though Kagami could tell that Kuroko’s accident hadn’t been done in malice or on purpose, he couldn’t see why he should try to make Kise feel better for maiming Kagami’s partner.

“You know he’d be happier in my arms than in yours.”

After Kagami said it, he felt his cheeks flare. “I-I just mean he hates you and we’re friends now. Friends are supposed to help friends, not enemies.”

“I will never see Kurokocchi as an enemy,” Kise whimpered. “I know he hates me and the others, and he has every reason to. He was such a good friend to me, to us, and we took his trust and friendship and…” Kise choked up, and he looked away.

To Kagami’s shock, Kise extended his arms out, Kuroko dangling in them. “Take him.”

Kagami didn’t waste time in gathering Kuroko into his own, but he had to ask, “Why?”

“You’re right. He’d rather be with you than with me. And I want to honor his wishes.” Kise wiped his eyes. The tears disappeared, and Kise’s face hardened into a blank slate. “For giving you Kuroko, you can’t tell anyone that I cried.”

“Deal,” Kagami said.

Kise took a large sniff to hold in his snot and coughed to clear his throat. He said nothing as he turned and walked out of the hallway, his broom in hand.

Kagami’s eyes followed Kise as he disappeared around the bend. He could feel more questions bloom in his mind concerning the topic of Kuroko and the Generation of Miracles. He’d unleash them on Kuroko when he woke up.

“Kuroko!” Kagami gasped, as he remembered that the whole reason why he had argued with Aomine was because he wanted to be the one to bring Kuroko to the infirmary.

Kagami kicked open the door of the infirmary. It was his first time seeing the room, and it was absolutely somber. Rows of white linen beds were pushed against the walls. Besides that, not much else could be seen within the room that was eye-popping or welcoming for that matter.

“And what is this?” a woman spoke.

She rushed from the bedside of a moaning student to examine Kuroko and then Kagami. “What happened to him?” she demanded.

“Quidditch accident,” was all Kagami said.

“Oh, dear,” the woman said. She waved Kagami to follow her as she turned. “Bring him to the bed.”

Kagami was lead to an open bed by the woman, who he guessed to be the nurse. “He’s going to be alright…right?”

“Well, he didn’t crash into the ground, right?” she asked. She waved her wand, and suddenly, there was a medical kit in front of her.

“No,” Kagami said, with a bit of envy. “Almost, though.”

“Then he should be splendid soon enough. He may have a concussion but nothing too serious.” The nurse dabbed a cloth at Kuroko’s forehead, absorbing the blood that covered half of his face. “Were you the one that saved him from falling?”

Kagami shook his head with his teeth gritted. “No, I was not.”

“May I ask who?”

Kagami folded his arms across his chest and muttered, “Aomine Daiki.”

“Aomine?” The nurse peeked up from cleaning Kuroko’s wound. “If I remember right, he’s helped this young man plenty of times before.”

Curiosity sparked in Kagami. “Really?”

The nurse nodded and went back to cleaning the wound. “This young man, Kuroko I believe is his name, used to pass out quite a bit. It was always that broad, blue-haired young man, Aomine, who brought this one in. After Kuroko got better, Aomine would always tease him for passing out even though he was worried sick about Kuroko while he was unconscious. They seemed like close friends. I’m surprised he didn’t come along this time.”

Kagami regretted wanting to know more about Kuroko’s relationship with the Generation of Miracles. Now that he was hearing it, he felt… jealous? No, no, no. Jealous sounded too possessive. But if that wasn’t it, what was making Kagami feel so sick to his stomach.

“Aomine’s busy at Quidditch practice. I’ll be watching over Kuroko this time.” And for every time after this.

While tucking her bloodied cloth away, the nurse smiled. “Then pull up a chair…”

“Kagami.”

“Kagami, make yourself at home.”


End file.
